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August 9, 2002/Elul 1 5762, Vol. 54, No. 47
School shocked by alumnus' act
TOBY AXELROD
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
BERLIN - A Protestant group here is scrambling to protect its reputation and support following the news that a Jerusalem suicide bomber reportedly attended a West Bank school the group finances.
Hashem Atta Yusuf, the 17-year-old who blew himself up at a downtown Jerusalem fast-food stand on July 30, injuring seven people, reportedly studied for a year at the elite Talitha Kumi school in Beit Jalla. The school is a project of the Lutheran group, Berliner Missionswerk, under the umbrella of the Protestant Church of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg.
After the information was broadcast on German tel-evision news programs, angry donors asked Berliner Missionswerk if their money was going to support Palestinian terrorists. Talitha Kumi representatives here expressed anger that their school's name was mentioned in connection with the bombing.
Soon after the story was confirmed, the mission issued a statement saying that it and the Protestant Church in Jordan "flatly condemn the bomb attack."
It's not the first time the school has been connected to terrorism, according to the report on German N-TV.
Two years ago, a trainee in the Talitha Kumi hotel training program died when a bomb exploded as he was planting it near the school grounds, located on the border between Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled areas.
This past April, Israeli security agents uncovered a letter from the German representative to the Palestinian Authority, Andreas Reinecke, urging the chief of Palestinian security in the West Bank, Jibril Rajoub, to prevent armed Palestinians from forcing their way onto school grounds. Israeli officials interpreted this as evidence that the grounds were being used to stage attacks against Israel.
About 1,000 boys and girls, from kindergarten through high school age, attend the school. Most of the students belong to various Christian groups. One-fifth are Muslims.
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