[Corpse of Chewbacca]

Perhaps this has already been discussed today but it's important to not let the lesson pass: Hamas MUST BE DISMANTLED ANY WAY POSSIBLE!!!!!

Palestinians: Tel Aviv Bombing Legitimate

By DANIEL ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 12 minutes ago

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a fast-food restaurant in a bustling area of Tel Aviv during the Passover holiday Monday, killing eight other people and wounding at least 49 in the deadliest Palestinian attack in more than a year.

The Palestinians' new Hamas leaders called the attack a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression." Israel said it held Hamas ultimately responsible — even though a different militant group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility — and would respond "as necessary."

"We shall, of course, continue to use all means at our disposal to prevent every other attempt," Israeli Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert said.

Israeli defense chiefs were to consult later Monday, but security officials said a possible reoccupation of Gaza, the base of the new Hamas government, was not being considered.

The White House strongly condemned the attack, calling it "a despicable act of terror for which there is no excuse or justification."

A security guard posted outside the restaurant, the target of a suicide bombing in January, prevented Monday's bomber from entering the building, police said.

It was the first suicide attack in Israel since the Hamas militant group took over the Palestinian government 2 1/2 weeks ago. Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks, has largely observed a cease-fire since February 2005.

Islamic Jihad, which is believed to be funded in part by Iran and refuses to observe a cease-fire, claimed responsibility in a telephone call to The Associated Press. The group identified the bomber as Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed, from the West Bank town of Jenin.

Islamic Jihad later released a video showing Hammed reading a statement saying the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

"There are many other bombers on the way," he said.

Hammed, appearing to be in his teens, was dressed in black and wore a headband with yellow Quranic verses written on it.

Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for all six of the previous suicide attacks inside Israel since the cease-fire was declared. On Sunday, the group pledged to carry out more attacks.

The response by Hamas leaders represented a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian leadership's immediate condemnations of such attacks.

"We think that this operation ... is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people," said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.

Earlier, Moussa abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader abroad, told Al-Jazeera television that "the Israeli side must feel what the Palestinian feels, and the Palestinian defends himself as much as he can."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah Party, condemned the bombing, calling it a "terrorist attack."

The bomber struck at about 1:40 p.m. at "The Mayor's Falafel" restaurant, which was targeted in a Jan. 19 attack that wounded 20 people. The restaurant is in the bustling Neve Shaanan neighborhood near Tel Aviv's central bus station, which was crowded with holiday travelers.

Police said the restaurant hired a security guard after the earlier bombing, and that guard apparently was injured in Monday's blast.

A witness, Moussa al Zidat, said the guard asked the apparent bomber to open his bag.

"I saw a young man starting to open his bag. The guard begins opening the bag, and then I heard a boom."

Witness Israel Yaakov said the blast killed a woman standing near her husband and children. (COC's EDIT: IS THIS A LEGIT MILITARY TARGET?!?!?! A FAMILY ENJOYING LUNCH?!?!?!

"The father was traumatized. He went into shock. He ran to the children to gather them up and the children were screaming, 'Mom! Mom!' and she wasn't answering, she was dead already ... it's a shocking scene," Yaakov said.

Another witness, 62-year-old Sonya Levy, said she had just finished shopping when the blast occurred.

"I was about to get into my car, and boom! There was an explosion. A bit of human flesh landed on my car and I started to scream," she said.

Her car was 50 yards from the explosion and its windshield was smeared with blood.

Olmert said the blast came as no surprise.

"It's not something that we didn't fear would happen, we know the terrorist organizations groups continue at every moment to look for opportunities to carry out attacks inside Israel," he said. "The security forces are deployed in every corner, every place, but we also know that there is no way we can always prevent such attacks, under all circumstances, in every case."

Police said nine people, including the bomber, were killed. Medics said nine of the injured were in serious condition.

The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. A dazed-looking man walked near the site, his white T-shirt splattered with blood.

The blast shattered the windshields of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. The ground was covered with glass shards and blood. The sign of the restaurant's building was blown away. Bottles and other debris were scattered up to 25 yards from the site of the blast.

While rescue crews tended to the wounded, a helicopter hovered overhead and a marksman took position on the roof of the targeted building.

Later, Israeli police stopped a car carrying three Palestinians suspected of aiding the bomber, officials said. The car, identified by witnesses at the scene of the attack, was stopped at a checkpoint on a highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, police said.

Authorities suspected the vehicle was "directly connected" to the attack, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The car's three occupants were detained for questioning, and a bomb squad was examining the vehicle.

Monday's bombing was the deadliest since Aug. 31, 2004, when suicide bombers on two buses in Beersheba killed 16 Israelis.

It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. In 2002, a Palestinian bomber blew himself up at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya, killing 29 people. That attack triggered a major Israeli military offensive.

Palestinian militants have carried out nine suicide attacks in Israel and the West Bank since a Feb. 8, 2005, truce declaration. All but one attack have been carried out by Islamic Jihad.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said Israel held Hamas ultimately responsible for such attacks because it is "giving support to all the other terrorist organizations."

"From our point of view it doesn't matter if it comes from Al Aqsa, Islamic Jihad or Hamas. They all come out of the same school of terrorism led by Hamas," he said.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

[Corpse of Chewbacca]

BEHOLD! The "legit" targets Hamas speaks of.......

Profile of the terror victims
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 18, 2006

Nine people were killed when terror struck in southern Tel Aviv on Monday as a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd at the entrance to Falafel Rosh Ha'ir.

The attack struck the falafel stand for the second time in four months.

Victor Erez, 60, a resident of Givatayim, died while expecting his sixth grandchild. As a soldier in the Six Day War, Erez lost his leg while serving within the Golani Brigade.

He was laid to rest at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday in the Yarkon Funeral Home.

Holon resident David Shaulov, 29, was expecting his third son when he was killed. His wife Varda, who was in her ninth month of pregnancy, arrived on Monday at Lis Hospital in Tel Aviv after the couple felt that she was due.

Just as she entered the obstetric department she received a message that her husband had been killed while going out for lunch.

He was laid to rest at 11:00 a.m. in a funeral home in Holon.

He had 2 daughters in addition to a large family. His friend Zach said he saw him make aliyah to Israel and that he never complained about the hardship.

Lod resident Binyamin Hafuta, 47, was the security guard on duty at the time of the attack. He requested to check the terrorist's bag and as his metal detector sounded off, the explosives in the bag detonated.

He prevented an even larger tragedy from occurring by absorbing the explosion with his body.

Hafuta began working as a security guard at the Falafel Rosh Ha'ir three months ago, just after the previous terror attack at the falafel stand. Those close to him said he thought the chances of a terror attack occurring at the same place twice were impossible.

His sister-in-law, Suzi, said that after hearing that Hafuta protected others from the blast with his body, she understood that "even in his death he cared for everyone."

She added that he was eagerly anticipating the post-Passover ritual of Mimuna.

A friend of his described Biyamin as trustworthy, happy and full of life, and added that he will be sorely missed.

He was laid to rest in the new funeral home in Lod at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Army Radio reported.

Ashdod resident Phillip Belachson, 45, had taken a day off from work and was on an excursion with his two children to purchase gifts for Passover when the blast occurred. As he felt the explosion, Phillip took his children into his arms and protected his children with his body.

His daughter Lital said, "He was the best person in the world."

"As he fell on the floor he told my brothers not to worry, I am in pain but don't worry," she continued.

"I had the best father in the world - he was pure, and had never done anything bad to anyone," she said. "Even in his death he protected his children by absorbing the shrapnel."

Phillip Belachson was laid to rest at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday in a funeral home in Ashdod.

A resident of the Oranit community, 43 year-old Lily Yunis arrived in Tel Aviv from her home in order to purchase goods for the store that she and two of her daughters were opening.

As she drove into Tel Aviv with her husband and children, her son Tzach said he was hungry and the family decided to stop and find a place to eat. Lily stepped out of the family car with her son just as the bomb explosion.

Her husband Menachem looked for her for hours, but only found out she was dead much later in Abu Kabir.

A friend of Lily's said, "Words cannot describe the kind of mother she was - she was a jewel."

"She never asked for anything and put everybody before her," she continued.

Lily Yunis was laid to rest at the Yarkon funeral home on Tuesday.

Bat Yam resident Ariel Darchi, 31, was laid to rest on Tuesday.

Buda Pirushka, 50, and Rosalia Basnia, 48, were foreign workers from Romania. The details of their funerals were not released.

The name of the ninth victim was not available for publish.

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

[Hawkeye_a]

The "differences" in this conflict......

1. Palestineans are granted access to Israel despite all this, to live and work and reside. The same cannot be said of Israeli Jews moving to most parts of the Muslim world.

2. Week after week we hear of this bomb, that attack, the retaliation, etc..... please note..... Muslim terrorists continue to target civilians in resturants, market places, schools, night clubs, airliners, tourist busses, and other social gatherings as opposed to the opposition's armed forces (not just in Israel). And please note that Israel attempts to target it's it's illusive civilian-cloth-wearing-enemy with discrimination when possible, leaving attacks upto armed officials targeting militias and terrorists who pose threats.

3. Where we (as in non muslims) condem terrorism both on a social and political scale and do a lot to curb it's infestation on every level....such as abolition of apartheide, white supremacy, etc..... it appears after the recent "election" in the region called Palestine that the inhabitants of that region have actually chosen to "elect" a self proclaimed militia that actually PURPOSELY targets civilians. Would MLK Jr. agree to barter a better deal with the head of the KKK even if he was "elected" into power ?

4. As a non-muslim and a non-Jew, i would feel a lot safer traveling into Israel than travelling into the Palestine. Ask youself that qustion as non-muslim and non-jewish, and i wonder how many of you would come up with a different answer.

Hammas was and still is a terrorist orginization. why ? because even after getting into politics they chant their most hanes of goals day after day with no appeasment.

(And no, they are not like Shinn Fenn in Ireland...the IRA has for all intensive purposed disarmed and there have been close to no terrorist attacks in years, with Sinn Fenn claiming to be the political wing taking the dispute to the negoiating table instead of calling for N.Ireland to be pushed into the sea or some other nonsence.)

The "threat" is quite real....especially when you hear it straight from the lips of those people day after day. (referring to Hammas and Iranian leadership). Their hate seems indiscriminatory, which is truely scary. Even Bush's war cries were against terrorist orginazations and regimes within other countries, not the other countries or peoples themselves.

Uncertain times.

[deomacius]