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News :: Israel / Palestine |
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Suicide Bombers And The ISM |
Current rating: 0 |
by haaretz via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
05 May 2003
Modified: 08:10:05 AM |
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Two articles from Haaretz about the British suicide bomber who took out an Israeli blues bar. |
Int'l Solidarity Movement members met British terrorists
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent
The two British terrorists involved in last week's suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv bar met at the end of April with activists from the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement in the Gaza Strip town of Rafah, a member of the movement said Monday.
Three people were killed and scores wounded in the bombing at the beachfront Mike's Place bar, when one of the Britons, Asif Hanif, blew himself up at the crowded nightspot. The bomb carried by Omar Sharif, the second Briton, did not detonate, and he fled the scene.
ISM member Raphael Cohen told a news conference Monday that he met the two men on Friday, April 25, five days before the bombing. He said that a group of 15 people met in an apartment in Rafah that belongs to the movement.
Along with four Britons from London, who planned to establish a summer camp in Gaza, the meeting included three Italians, and the two bombers. Cohen said that he and another five ISM members attended the meeting, in which tea was served and general questions were asked about the participants' identities and plans in Rafah.
Cohen said that the two Britons answered that they did not belong to any particular groups, but rather were "alternative tourists" in the territories. He said that the ISM members were at the apartment for 15 minutes before leaving for a memorial ceremony for ISM's Rachel Corrie who was killed by the IDF last month.
In recent months, the two were students in Damascus, where it appears they were recruited by one of the terror groups in the Syrian capital. A few weeks before the bombing, they crossed from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge border crossing. As far as is known, they were not detained or questioned. Among their possessions were explosives which, according to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, were concealed in a copy of the Koran.
According to the London Times, the two lived in a Tel Aviv hostel before traveling to the Gaza Strip. On arriving in Gaza, they made contact with local terror cells, and felt safe enough to cross back into Israel at least one more time. On crossing the Erez checkpoint, they did not raise any suspicions of security personnel.
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TA bomb proves embarrassing for peaceniks
By Arnon Regular
Reports that last week's two British suicide bombers, one of whom blew himself up at Mike's Place, entered Israel as activists in the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) has wreaked havoc with the group's self-confidence. Only three to six ISM members remain in Rafah.
One of the group said the peace activists are determined to continue their "passive resistance to the Israeli occupation," but others paint a different picture.
About six weeks ago ISM activist Rachel Corrie was crushed under an Israeli tank in Rafah. Three weeks later activist Brian Avery was critically wounded, shot in the face by Israel Defense Forces fire in Jenin. A week later ISM activist Tom Hurndall was shot in the head by the IDF in Rafah's refugee camp and is now believed to be brain dead with little chance of recovery.
Despite the blow to their morale, the activists, based in Beit Sahour, have been persevering in their mission. The report in Haaretz on Friday, that the IDF has declared war on ISM members and intended to deport them, came as no surprise. For some time now, they have been evading the authorities and using first names only. But over the weekend something seemed to crack in their undaunted spirit.
Some spoke of growing suspicions they have that certain "activists" are planted agents, and of fears that the IDF was following them and listening in on their telephone calls. Both Israeli and British media have suggested the two British citizens involved in the Tel Aviv terrorist attack succeeded in entering Israel by pretending to be ISM activists, going to the Gaza Strip and returning to Tel Aviv for the attack.
ISM spokesman Tom Wallace vehemently denied the two had any connection to the movement and said attending a memorial service for Rachel Corrie was something any Palestinian or stranger could have done, but the denial failed to disperse the cloud over the movement.
Wallace and others in ISM have long said they know various groups are trying to exploit them to bash the IDF, and they tell the Palestinians to keep clear of any provocation. The few ISM members who attended the service for Corrie refuse to talk about Mohammed Hanif and Sharif Khan and whether they had any connections with ISM members apart from attending the ceremony.
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