-Caveat Lector- http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,820445,00.html
Dying bomber kills three Israeli soldiers Chris McGreal in Ariel Monday October 28, 2002 The Guardian Mohammed Kashir's intended objective yesterday was, by one definition in the shifting standards of the war for Palestine, a "legitimate target". The young man from Nablus had his eye on dozens of Israeli soldiers waiting at a petrol station on the edge of Ariel, one of the biggest Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. But he was stopped a few metres short, and the three deaths in the minutes that followed were considered a relative failure for his mission. He apparently intended to strike a blow at the heart of the Israeli army by killing dozens of soldiers waiting for buses. But he was spotted by a hotel owner, Menachem Gilboa, who grabbed the well-dressed 19-year-old, discovered explosives under the suicide bomber's shirt, and shouted for help. As Mr Gilboa fought to prevent him detonating the bomb, a handful of soldiers ran over to grab the bomber's arms. Then Shahar Keshet, a student who was filling his car with petrol, walked up and shot Kashir twice in the head. "I saw this brawl. It looked like a street fight. I didn't think for a second that he was a suicide terrorist. I went to see what was going on," Mr Keshet said in his hospital bed. "The hotel manager was trying to hold him and he shouted: 'It's a terrorist, it's a terrorist'. "I pulled out my gun and shot him. It seemed the only thing to do. Seconds later his body hit the ground and there was this explosion." Three of the soldiers who had been trying to subdue the bomber were killed in the explosion. Mr Keshet and Mr Gilboa were more fortunate. They and 13 others were only wounded. The hotel manager was too badly injured to explain why Kashir attracted his attention, but he had reason to be alert. A bomber blew himself up in the lobby of his hotel in March, injuring 14 people. The army said Kashir was from Nablus and on its list of wanted Palestinians, but he had been missing from his home for the past month. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a week after suicide bombers killed 13 people on a bus in northern Israel. The Israeli government was swift to equate the two and to pin the blame on the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. "Once again the vicious agenda of Palestinian terrorists has taken its toll," David Baker, an aide to the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, said. "Like spectators, the Palestinian Authority stands by and does nothing while terrorists continue to wage a campaign of terror against Israeli civilians." Al-Aqsa is affiliated to Mr Arafat's Fatah movement, which has declared an end to attacks inside Israel's pre-1967 borders. But yesterday's bombing was in the occupied territories and the target was Israeli soldiers in uniform. Even some Israeli officers believe that such attacks cannot really be called terrorism, no matter what their political masters may say. Palestinians argue that Jewish settlements, and particularly the men who live in them and serve in a de facto militia, are also legitimate targets. Ariel, 20 miles north of Jerusalem, is one of the biggest Jewish settlements in the West Bank and therefore among the most controversial. It is, in effect, a small town, with 15,000 residents and another 6,000 students attending the College of Judea and Samaria - Israel's name for the West Bank. The attack coincided with a raw political dispute in Mr Sharon's coalition cabinet about the funding of the settlements. The Labour leader and defence minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, has threatened to bring down the government in support of his demand that nearly £100m earmarked for the settlers should be diverted to pensioners, one-parent families and poor communities. The mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman, is furious. "I tell all the idiots talking about the budget - they're all responsible for what happened," he said. "This is ridiculous when you see corpses on the ground. This time, when Israel is in a state of war, they should stop this nonsense. Do they live on the moon or do they live in this country?" <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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