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Show WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2001 3 THE SUN Palestinian bus driver plows into group of Israeli soldiers, killing eight By Tribune Media Services Israelis AZUR, Israe- lFrightened and enraged by a horrific mass killing at a bus stop outside Tel Aviv, Israel tightened travel to and from the West Bank and Gaza Stnp on Wednesday the inspect wreckage of a public bus that was driven into a crowd of Israeli soldiers and commuters considered new measures to restrict movement of Palestinians inside Israel. The attack at the suburban Azur bus stop, in which a Palestinian bus dnver deliberately plowed into a rush hour, roadside crowd of young soldiers and civilian commuters Wednesday morning, killed eight and lefr at least 20 injured. The incident was the bloodiest committs ed against Israelis since the Palestinian erupted into a violent uprising more than four months ago and followed by a day Israel's assassination of a Palestinian security and by a Palestinian driver at a bus stop in Azur, Israel, 2001. 14, February soldiers Seven among the dead and at least 17 others were were hurt. tern-tone- officer. Reaction mixed anger and anxiety. Some called for shutting off the Palestinian territories. Others feared that the incident might provoke even more violent acts of Israelis by Tribune Media Services photo retaliation. President Bush appealed for restraint. condemned the Azur attack in a condolence call to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. "The tragic cycle of violent action and reaction between Israel and the Palestinians, particularly the escalation this week, needs to stop," Bush said. "I'm urging all parties to do their utmost to end the violence." This kind of attack was unexpected in a land accustomed to shootings, explosions and other assaults of modem weaponry. The man being held m the attack, Khalil Abu Olbeh of Gaza City, is an unlikely assailant. He is a father of five, who has five years of expenence driving buses for Egged, the Israeli intercity bus cooperative. Abu Olbeh received his latest clearance only two weeks ago from Israeli security forces to perform his job of transporting Palestinian laborers from Gaza to work in Israel. Shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday, Abu Olbeh had delivered his regular passengers and was approaching the Azur junction in his He empty bus. The bus stop was crowded as usual, packed with civilians who switch buses here or hitch rides into Tel Aviv. Abu Olbeh slowed, so much that Avi Nager, a construction worker ridbehind the bus on a scooter, considered ing overtaking it. bus Then suddenly, the accelerated, Nager and others said. Abu Olbeh increased the speed of the vehicle, empty except for himself, to about 50 mph. He jumped a curb and plowed into the commuters, the witnesses said. "We saw it come up on the sidewalk," said Moshe Sarussi. "It came up like a wave in the sea. It just came over them." "I turned around and saw it right in front solof me," said Ami Akharon, a dier who was slightly injured when the bus grazed him. "There was nothing I could do. It was like dominoes. People were flying and falling all over the place. It just took people apart in seconds." "I didn't think about what happened, I just tned to help people," said Meir Sabag, a member of the Israeli air force. were "People saying, "What happened? Where am I?" Abu Olbeh fled the scene. A taxi driver followed. Then police joined in. chase across 20 miles, d After a police fired on Abu Olbeh and the bus crashed into a truck. Abu Olbeh was wounded in the chest but was recovering Wednesday night after surgery in a local hospit 1 His friends and family in Gaza said Abu Olbeh had been troubled of late. He was particularly despondent, a brother m Gaza said, Palestinian over the deaths and injuries children, most of them during clashes with Israeli soldiers. "Yesterday he told me he was thinking about many things," Hussein Abu Olbeh said of his brother. "My brother was always pained when heard that Israelis have killed children. The incident today was a natural reaction." Like hundreds of thousands of Palestinihave economic ties to Israel, the bus who ans driver was suffenng financially since the Palestinian uprising began at the end of September. Partly for secunty, partly to pressure the Palestinian Authonty and partly as what Arabs say is a collective punishment, Israel has severely restncted the nghts of Palestinian laborers to cross into Israel. As a result, the Egged buses that transport documented Palestinian workers were running only rarely. Israeli police are investigating whether Abu Olbeh acted on his own. At least two callers to Israeli and Arab media stations claimed responsibility for the attack, including one who said he represented Hamas. But Abu Olbeh's family said he had no ties to the I lamic militant group. A Hamas spokesman was evasive about whether his group played a role. In Ankara, Turkey, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said it was unclear if the attack was more than a "road accident." use of violence and of course killing people," he said. "It happened on their temtory, they're investigating, and that's it as far as I'm "Whatever the cause, we are against the high-spee- r i h sn I'Z N. Ctplp 7 pO OO 4 ' - p- REGULAR -- V 4 rGQ 21-2- $13.95 9 FOR WINDOWS & tMCIUTOSH MAMS YQUn SCREEN COMf ALIYS! MANY SELECTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM B3CXS7CZE tmxs - 6 HI LION 745 5 All HI Hit 745 AM CLOSED SAT. S SUN -- THU |
