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January 25, 2002/12 Shevat 5762, Vol. 54, No. 19
Palestinian gunman terrorizes Jerusalem
NAOMI SEGAL and JESSICA STEINBERG
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The terrorist ran out of a covered passageway located between a clothing shop and a discount drugstore on Jerusalem's Jaffa Road.
This portion of Jaffa, located near King George Street and Zion Square, is lined with shoe stores and inexpensive clothing shops. Sbarro's, the pizzeria that was the scene of last summer's deadly suicide bombing, is just down the block.
Every day, the street is filled with pedestrians shopping for shoes, perusing the selection of candy in the Elite chocolate shop or waiting for buses at one of several stops along the street.
The Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, where 11 teenagers were killed in a double suicide bombing in December, also is accessible from this part of Jaffa Road.
In short, when the terrorist came running out of the alley Jan. 22 with an M-16 assault rifle, he had a street full of possible victims.
He opened fire in all directions, wounding 46 people, six of them seriously, before being shot and killed by police.
On the night of Jan. 22, two women, aged 79 and 56, died from wounds they sustained in the attack.
The older woman was identified as Sarah Hamburger, a resident of Jerusalem. The second woman was not immediately identified.
A mother of four, Hamburger was on her way to a lecture when she was hit by the terrorist's gunfire. Hamburger was a seventh-generation Israeli. She grew up in Hebron but fled the city with her family during the 1929 riots.
She was buried Jan. 23 in Jerusalem.
The attack came shortly after the head of army intelligence warned that Israelis must brace for an unprecedented wave of terror.
The Al-Aksa Brigade, a militia of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The United States condemned the attack.
"There's no justification for these kinds of attacks; they only kill innocent people," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "Once again, we call upon Chairman Arafat to take immediate and effective steps to end attacks such as these and bring those responsible to justice."
The attack came hours after Israeli troops killed four prominent Hamas terrorists in a raid in Nablus. Four Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in the operation, in which Israel uncovered and destroyed an explosives laboratory.
Hamas vowed a "brutal revenge" for the Israeli operation. Yet analysts noted that the attack Jan. 22 was believed to be the first time Arafat's Fatah has retaliated for an Israeli attack on Hamas.
Earlier Jan. 22, Israeli troops pulled out of Tulkarm a day after taking over the West Bank city in a sweep for Palestinian terrorists. The incursion into Tulkarm marked the first time since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 that Israel took over an entire city.
Israeli officials said they launched the incursion because Arafat was not doing anything to crack down on terrorists.
Some 50 Palestinians were detained, including 11 wanted terrorists, during the 30-hour takeover, Israel's Army Radio reported.
The incursion took place days after a Palestinian from Tulkarm opened fire at a bat mitzvah in the northern Israeli city of Hadera, killing six Israelis and wounding more than 30.
That attack, also claimed by Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade, said the Hadera attack was in retaliation for the bombing death earlier last week of Raed Karmi, a leader of the group in Tulkarm.
Palestinians accused Israel of assassinating Karmi. Israel neither confirmed nor denied the charge, but accused Karmi of being behind the deaths of nine Israelis in a series of terror attacks.
The Jerusalem shooting attack occurred at the height of the evening rush hour.
Police stationed in the area as part of a heightened security alert spotted the gunman and gave chase.
Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy said the quick police response prevented a greater number of casualties.
Israel is engaged in a war that is being fought at home, "not some distant battlefield," Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert said. "But we are dealing with it with courage and determination."
Across the street, next to the bus stop where several civilians were shot in the attack, a crowd of men had gathered the evening of Jan. 22, holding signs and calling for revenge on the Arabs.
Several policeman, shivering in the cold and rain, were guarding the small crowd.
A bystander stood staring at a nearby bus stop, which had two of its glass panels shot out during the attack.
"I wait for the bus here every day," he said. "But that's it. I'm telling my company to start paying for parking."
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