2011 Jerusalem bus stop bombing
Encyclopedia
The 2011 Jerusalem bus bombing was a bomb attack carried out in a bus station in downtown Jerusalem, near the Jerusalem International Convention Center
compound on 23 March 2011 at 15:00 (GMT
+2). The bomb was placed near a bus stop, and detonated when Egged bus No.74 passed the station.
The explosion killed a British national: 59-year-old Mary Jean Gardner, a Scottish Christian Bible translator who was studying Hebrew at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
's Rothberg International School. The bombing also injured 39 people.
The attack was condemned by officials of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Spokespeople for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas
, in contrast, praised the attack.
The Israeli Police
said the bombing was a "terrorist attack
." The perpetrators were not immediately identified. The Palestinian Authority brought in for questioning two Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders, related to Israeli claims that the organization's Al-Quds Brigades were responsible for the attack.
exploded in a garbage bag on a traffic island in southern Jerusalem. A municipal sanitation worker lost his hand in the blast. Jerusalem had not suffered any serious terrorist attack since 2008, and has not experienced any suicide bombing attacks in 7 years, as a result of effective prevention.
Jewish Week columnist and Jerusalem resident Carol Ungar remarked the attack ended "a decade of quiet, of voluntary amnesia" for adults as well as period where children could grow up without any knowledge of such events.
. David Amoyal, owner of a nearby kiosk, who noticed the suspicious bag had been placed near the bus station, immediately told a group of people nearby to evacuate the site, and attempted to alert the police.
A few minutes after 15:00, while Amoyal was attempting to alert the police, the device exploded near Egged bus # 74, which was passing the site and which absorbed the force of the blast.
The explosion injured 39 people. In addition, it killed Mary Jean Gardner. She was a Scottish 56-year-old student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
's Rothberg International School, who absorbed most of the blast and later died of her wounds in the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. Gardner was a Christian Bible translator, who had for 20 years translated the Bible into the Ifè
language in the African nation of Togo
. Danny Ronning of the Home for Bible Translators said he was certain that because Gardner absorbed the majority of the bomb's shrapnel, she shielded and saved the lives of three children who were at a bus that was stopping at the bus stop a few feet away from the bomb.
The Telegraph
described the moments after the blast:
When ZAKA
, a community emergency response team
of volunteers, arrived at the crime scene, they found "two women lying in huge pools of blood on the pavement. [They] began resuscitation immediately, and were soon joined by other medical personnel."
said the bombing was a "terrorist attack
." The identity of the individual perpetrators of the attack was not immediately known, and no group claimed responsibility.
Two Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders in Jenin
, Khalid Jaradat and Tariq Qa’dan, were brought in for questioning by the Palestinian Authority. Islamic Jihad said that the questioning was related to Israeli claims that the organization's Al-Quds Brigades were responsible for the attack.
Subsequent to a wave of arrests made in September 2011, four Hamas militants are being tried in an Israeli military court for involvement in the attack. Three of the militants are accused of having recruited the fourth, a resident of East Jerusalem. The cell is accused of having also planned a suicide attack.
delayed a planned trip to Moscow as a result of the bombing.
Other states – Foreign Minister Alain Juppe
condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms," and expressed sympathy for "the victims, their families and loved ones, and the Israeli authorities." – Foreign Secretary William Hague
stated,
Palestinian militant organizations
Non-governmental organizations
International Convention Center (Jerusalem)
The International Convention Centre , commonly known as Binyenei HaUma , is a concert hall and conventional center in Giv'at Ram in Jerusalem, Israel. It is the largest convention center in the Middle East...
compound on 23 March 2011 at 15:00 (GMT
Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Mean Time is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It is arguably the same as Coordinated Universal Time and when this is viewed as a time zone the name Greenwich Mean Time is especially used by bodies connected with the United...
+2). The bomb was placed near a bus stop, and detonated when Egged bus No.74 passed the station.
The explosion killed a British national: 59-year-old Mary Jean Gardner, a Scottish Christian Bible translator who was studying Hebrew at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
's Rothberg International School. The bombing also injured 39 people.
The attack was condemned by officials of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Spokespeople for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, in contrast, praised the attack.
The Israeli Police
Israel Police
The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism...
said the bombing was a "terrorist attack
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
." The perpetrators were not immediately identified. The Palestinian Authority brought in for questioning two Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders, related to Israeli claims that the organization's Al-Quds Brigades were responsible for the attack.
Background
Two weeks before the attack, a pipe bombPipe bomb
A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device, a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively large explosion, and the fragmentation of the pipe itself creates potentially...
exploded in a garbage bag on a traffic island in southern Jerusalem. A municipal sanitation worker lost his hand in the blast. Jerusalem had not suffered any serious terrorist attack since 2008, and has not experienced any suicide bombing attacks in 7 years, as a result of effective prevention.
Jewish Week columnist and Jerusalem resident Carol Ungar remarked the attack ended "a decade of quiet, of voluntary amnesia" for adults as well as period where children could grow up without any knowledge of such events.
Attack
On 23 March 2011, around 15:00, an explosive device was placed in a bag next to a bus station in downtown Jerusalem, near where many passengers await their bus. The explosive device contained between one and two kilograms of explosives, and was packed with shrapnelFragmentation (weaponry)
Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
. David Amoyal, owner of a nearby kiosk, who noticed the suspicious bag had been placed near the bus station, immediately told a group of people nearby to evacuate the site, and attempted to alert the police.
A few minutes after 15:00, while Amoyal was attempting to alert the police, the device exploded near Egged bus # 74, which was passing the site and which absorbed the force of the blast.
The explosion injured 39 people. In addition, it killed Mary Jean Gardner. She was a Scottish 56-year-old student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
's Rothberg International School, who absorbed most of the blast and later died of her wounds in the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. Gardner was a Christian Bible translator, who had for 20 years translated the Bible into the Ifè
Ifè language
Ifè is a Niger–Congo language spoken by approximately 182,000 people in Togo and Benin. It is also known as Ana, Ana-Ifé, Anago, Baate and Ede Ife. It has a lexical similarity of 87%–91% with Ede Nago....
language in the African nation of Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
. Danny Ronning of the Home for Bible Translators said he was certain that because Gardner absorbed the majority of the bomb's shrapnel, she shielded and saved the lives of three children who were at a bus that was stopping at the bus stop a few feet away from the bomb.
The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
described the moments after the blast:
minutes before 3 pm, the ominous crump of an explosion echoed through Jerusalem. Shoppers on Jaffa Street, the city's principal thoroughfare, paused mid-stride and then began to run. The sudden eruption of wailing sirens moments later confirmed what many in a city inured to violence had instinctively suspected immediately: the unofficial ceasefire in Jerusalem was over.
When ZAKA
ZAKA
ZAKA , is a series of voluntary community emergency response teams in Israel, each operating in a police district . These organizations are officially recognized by the government...
, a community emergency response team
Community Emergency Response Team
In the United States a community emergency response team can refer to* one of five federal programs promoted under the umbrella organization Citizen Corps, which is funded in part by the Stafford Act;...
of volunteers, arrived at the crime scene, they found "two women lying in huge pools of blood on the pavement. [They] began resuscitation immediately, and were soon joined by other medical personnel."
Perpetrators and investigation
The Israeli PoliceIsrael Police
The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism...
said the bombing was a "terrorist attack
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
." The identity of the individual perpetrators of the attack was not immediately known, and no group claimed responsibility.
Two Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders in Jenin
Jenin
Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...
, Khalid Jaradat and Tariq Qa’dan, were brought in for questioning by the Palestinian Authority. Islamic Jihad said that the questioning was related to Israeli claims that the organization's Al-Quds Brigades were responsible for the attack.
Subsequent to a wave of arrests made in September 2011, four Hamas militants are being tried in an Israeli military court for involvement in the attack. Three of the militants are accused of having recruited the fourth, a resident of East Jerusalem. The cell is accused of having also planned a suicide attack.
Reactions
Israeli and Palestinian Authority – Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
delayed a planned trip to Moscow as a result of the bombing.
-
- Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat condemned the "cowardly terrorist attack." – Prime Minister Salam FayyadSalam FayyadSalam Fayyad is a Palestinian politician and Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority of the Palestinian National Authority. His first appointment, on 15 June 2007, which was justified by President Mahmoud Abbas on the basis of "national emergency", has not been confirmed by the...
condemned the attack.
- Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat condemned the "cowardly terrorist attack." – Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
Other states – Foreign Minister Alain Juppe
Alain Juppé
Alain Marie Juppé is a French politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011...
condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms," and expressed sympathy for "the victims, their families and loved ones, and the Israeli authorities." – Foreign Secretary William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
stated,
This appears to have been a callous and disgusting act of terrorism directed against innocent civilians which I condemn unreservedly. I would like to express the UK’s unwavering support for the Jewish people of Israel in their homeland in the face of such horrific acts.
-
- US President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
declared,I condemn in the strongest possible terms the bombing in Jerusalem today, as well as the rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in recent days. Together with the American people, I offer my deepest condolences for those injured or killed... There is never any possible justification for terrorism. The United States calls on the groups responsible to end these attacks at once and we underscore that Israel, like all nations, has a right to self-defense.
- Defense Secretary Robert GatesRobert GatesDr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
said, "It's obviously a horrific terrorist attack. I extend sympathy to the families of those who have been injured. But I think, I don't think I would characterize the situation there as deteriorating." - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Israel: "like all nations, of course, has to respond when this occurs."
- US President Barack Obama
Palestinian militant organizations
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad – Spokesman Abu-Ahmed praised the attack, saying it was a "natural response to the enemy's crimes... It's a clear and powerful message to Israel that her crimes won't be able to break the resistance".
- HamasHamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
– welcomed the attack.
Non-governmental organizations
- Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
– condemned the bombing. The group stated that "all attacks targeting civilians-wherever, whenever and by whomever they are carried out-are prohibited absolutely under international law." It also urged the Israel defence force to cease firing mortars on Gazan areas with residential neighborhoods.
See also
- Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing
- Kiryat Menachem bus bombing
- Patt junction bus bombing
- Dizengoff Center suicide bombingDizengoff Center suicide bombingThe Dizengoff Center suicide bombing was a Hamas terrorist attack on March 4, 1996 on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim. The Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside Dizengoff Center in downtown Tel Aviv, killing 13 Israelis and wounding about 130 more...
External links
- Bus explodes in central Jerusalem; 18 reportedly wounded - published on HaaretzHaaretzHaaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
on March 23, 2011 - Bomb explodes at Jerusalem bus stop; 25 wounded - published on MSNBCMSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
on March 23, 2011 - String of rocket attacks follows fatal Jerusalem bombing - published on CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
on March 24, 2011