Palestinian Massacre of University Includes Foreign Students

Aug. 1, 2002
7 killed, 86 wounded in Hebrew U. attack
By TOVAH LAZAROFF



Two Israelis, three US citizens and a French citizen were among the seven killed when a powerful bomb placed in a school bag under a table exploded in a packed cafeteria at 1:40 p.m. at the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Another 86 were wounded as glass windows shattered, tables overturned, ceiling tiles fell, and blood splattered.

It followed an attack Tuesday on Rehov Hanevi'im in the city center in which seven were wounded when a 17-year old suicide bomber blew himself up in a felafel stand.

"There was chaos all over. Students were running in all directions. Most of the fatalities died a minute or two after the bomb," said Itial Gelfand, a volunteer for the ZAKA rescue and recovery organization who was among the first to arrive. He described how though fatally wounded, they somehow made it out of the cafeteria in the Frank Sinatra International Student Center before collapsing and dying on the pavement outside. One of the survivors said he jumped out the window after the glass shattered in his haste to escape.

Among the dead was Levina Shapira, 53, head of student services at the university. According to university spokeswoman Orit Sulitzeanu, Shapira married in 1971 and has three children. "She was loved by everyone," Sulitzeanu said.

Shapira was in the cafeteria eating lunch with others from her office as she often did. David Ledovisky, 29 of Jerusalem, was also killed in the attack.

Shapira is to be buried at 7:00 PM Thursday evening in Jerusalem. The time of Ledovisky's funeral has not yet been set.

The name of the third victim was released Thursday morning, she is Janis Ruth Coulter, 37, from New York.

Coulter was the deputy director of the Hebrew University's foreign student program. She arrived in the country Tuesday to accompany a group of overseas students.

Three Americans were killed and four were injured in the terrorist attack, State Department spokeswoman Lynn Cassel said. Their names were wtihheld pending notification of their families.

Hamas claimed the responsibility for the attack. In a statement, it said it was a reaction to the attack in Gaza which killed senior Hamas military wing commander Salah Shehadeh and 14 others, including at nine children.

"This is our primarily reaction to Gaza massacre, it is simple reaction in the long process of attacks that would target your institutions with no exception" Hamas said in a leaflet. It added that "it is a clear message for the wisest of you to quickly depart from our lands or to choose the death. Prepare dozens of black bags for our next reaction that the criminal Sharon should be responsible for."

Hamas said the attack marks a change in strategy. It will now use bombs instead of suicide bombers following Israeli punishments against the families of suicide bombers by demolishing their homes and exiling them to Gaza.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, speaking from Washington, rejected claims by Hamas that this was a retaliatory attack. "Hamas was killing Israelis before the attack on Shehadeh and has continued since then. That is their objective." He called on the Palestinians to declare organizations that organize these attacks illegitimate. "They are not just hurting us, they are also harming the future interests of the Palestinian nation."

The PA strongly condemned the attack and said in a statement that it considers Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "responsible for this circle of violence."

Jerusalem deputy police chief Dep.-Cmdr. Ilan Franco said there was no specific warning about an attack on campus, although police were investigating warnings of an attack in Jerusalem. Police added that the university campus was among the most secure places in the city. Following the attack, police detained a number of Arab workers from the cafeteria and others from the surrounding area. They said they feared a worker or a student had been involved.

According to Israel Radio, one of its reporters was surprised when interviewing Hamas about the attack to discover how much it knew about the layout of the campus.

This is the first attack on the campus since violence broke out in September 2000. Students said they were particularly upset that a campus where both Jews, Arabs, and many international students study together was the target. The school's student population of 23,000 includes 5,000 Arabs and 1,500 international students.

Alastair Goldrein, 19, from Liverpool, England, said the cafeteria was a gathering place for students of all backgrounds.

"I was on my way to lunch. There was a huge, huge explosion. Everything shook and then there was this deathly silence," said Goldrein, who has been taking courses in Jewish studies for the past year. "I ran in. There were people lying around wailing, covered in blood. Scenes that are indescribable, clothes and flesh torn apart."

Sitting, still shaking on the pavement, Arab-Israeli student Abir Salma, 18, said she was walking across the courtyard by the cafeteria with a friend. They had planned to register for the next school year. The friend suddenly decided she wanted a drink and promised Salma she would quickly catch up with her.

"She walked into the cafeteria and then I heard the explosion," Salma said. Since then she has been calling her friend's cellphone and the hospitals but hadn't been able to find her.

The attack came on the first day of the university's overseas program, only an hour before the placement test for Hebrew language classes. Students were also registering for the coming school year. The university continued to hold as many activities as possible in the afternoon, including giving students the option to take the placement test. Classes will also be held as scheduled today.

University President Menahem Magidor, who extended the university's condolences to the bereaved and wishes for a speedy recovery for the wounded, said the administration was deeply shocked and saddened by the this terror attack.

He said the murderous attack was intended to put an end to the possibility of coexistence, and the administration would fight with all its strength to prevent the terrorists from achieving this.

"The university campus on Mt. Scopus and the other university campuses have served and continue to serve as an example of co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians," he said.

Magidor said the university is intent upon continuing its research and instruction and all other activities. The wave of terror would not affect this, he said.

Prof. Robert Wistrich, who is about assume the position of director of the university's Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, said the bombing crossed a red line.

Wistrich, who had been meeting with two German colleagues near the when the blast shook the campus, said that many of the people at the university had thought that although most of the red lines had been crossed, there was some residual respect that put the academic world beyond the limits.

"This is a grim message that no target is off limits," Wistrich said.

However, he added, what was shocking was that a European delegation had met with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of Hamas, a group that has been classified as a terror organization.

"It shows that the Europeans are playing the wrong game," he said, adding that such talks only encourage terror, rather than tempering it.

US President George W. Bush and other world leaders condemned the attacks.

The security cabinet meeting after the blast, decided Israel would retaliate, Israel Radio said.

The government has slightly eased the tough restrictions placed on Palestinian movements, but the latest attacks could lead to even tougher measures.

"Israel is fighting a pitched battle against terror and for the right to walk down the street, take a bus, or sit in a cafeteria without the fear of being decimated by Palestinian terrorism," said David Baker of the Prime Minister's Office.

Itim, AP, and Muhammad Najib contributed to this report.