HA’ARETZ 1. THREE WOMEN KILLED AND AT LEAST 90 PEOPLE WOUNDED IN NETANYA SUICIDE BOMBING – ISLAMIC JIHAD TAKES RESPONSIBILITY; ISRAEL: WE WILL RESPOND HARSHLY. Abu Mazen: „Action is stupid,” he responds; promises Sharon to apprehend those responsible. The terrorist: 18-year-old from Atil village. Told family before attack that he was „going out to celebrate.” The Maccabiah: Many athletes housed in hotel near attack and there was concern for their fates. Attempted attack: Short while before Netanya attack, booby-trapped car failed to explode at Shavei Shomron. 2. Entire family hit. GRANDFATHER HEARD EXPLOSION FROM HOME, RAN TO MALL AND SAW THAT HIS WIFE, DAUGHTER AND GRANDAUGHTER HAD BEEN SEVERELY WOUNDED. HATZOFEH 1. Victims of disengagement: Three women killed and over 100 people wounded, including six in serious to critical condition. Vehicle explodes at entrance to Shavei Shomron. TERRORISM RETURNS TO NETANYA. At 18:20, light truck exploded at entrance to Shavei Shomron. Police estimate that it was designed to distract security forces until perpetration of large-scale attack in Netanya. At 18:40, terrorist exploded among passers-by, opposite entrance to Sharon Mall in Netanya. Israel: „We will react harshly against Islamic Jihad. Two soldiers wounded in bomb explosion along Karni-Netzarim route. Hezbollah shoots at IDF post on northern border. 2. SHARON: NO IMPEDIMENT TO KNESSET DISCUSSION ON BRINGING EGYPTIAN FORCES TO PHILADELPHI CORRODOR. 3. CHIEF-OF-STAFF: FROM IDF’S POINT-OF-VIEW – DISDENGAGEMENT IS ALREADY BEHIND US. MA’ARIV 1. Three women killed and 95 people wounded in Netanya suicide attack. AGAIN. Four-and-a-half months of quiet were brutally shattered yesterday. 18-year-old man blew up at entrance to Sharon Mall. (.). 2. GENEROUS COMPENSATION TO GUSH KATIF FARMERS. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Three young women killed and 90 people wounded in Netanya terrorist attack. THE HORROR RETURNS. At 18:40, quiet was shattered: After almost six months, suicide attacks returned to Israeli territory. Terrorist blew up at mall entrance, near group of young women. Maccabiah participants demanding to return home. Islamic Jihad responsible for attack; car-bomb exploded minutes earlier in Samaria. Intelligence sources: Islamic Jihad attempting to disrupt disengagement. Three-year-old girl at Schneider Hospital, mother in Beilinson, grandfather at Laniado. BPI-info
SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Yediot Ahronot says that, „Yesterday’s terrorist attack in Netanya, even if it is an isolated one in the near future, is a test of the Palestinian Authority’s ability to deal not only with the enemies of Israel but, first and foremost, with its enemies,” and adds that, „Yesterday’s attack is Islamic Jihad’s throwing down the gauntlet to the PA and its leader, Abu Mazen.” __________ Both papers discuss Monday evening’s incident in which presumed right-wing extremists opposed to the Disengagement Plan planted a dummy bomb in the Jerusalem Central Bus Station: Hatzofeh urges MKs to call for a commission of inquiry to examine how the presumed extremists could have smuggled a gas canister into the Jerusalem Central Bus Station Monday evening and rigged it up as a dummy bomb. Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, asserts that such tactics will certainly not deter Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from carrying out the Disengagement Plan and declares that: „The bomb in Jerusalem and the ensuing uproar, just like the violent highway-blockings, are a step too far – the right-wingers are damaging, and arousing hatred against, themselves.” __________ Yediot Ahronot, in its third editorial, comments on today’s scheduled launch of the US space shuttle Discovery and notes that Israelis will be remembering the late Col. Ilan Ramon who perished in the 2003 Columbia disaster. BPI-info
