Peace leaders decry bus explosion
Others hail bomber as martyr
March 3, 1996
Web posted at: 2:15 p.m. EST (1915 GMT)(CNN) -- World leaders swiftly and strongly condemned Sunday's suicide bus bombing in Israel, calling it a senseless and irrational terrorist attack.
However, Iran, Libya and radical Palestinians described the Hamas bomber, who was among the 19 who died, as a martyr.
"We have to build the capacity of all the forces in the Middle East, including the Palestinian authorities, to promote law and order and to stand against terrorism," President Clinton said after the third suicide bombing in Israel in a week. (165K AIFF sound or 165K WAV sound)
Meanwhile, Libya described the bombing as a "martyr's attack." The Libyan government was quick to point out that leader Moammar Gadhafi had predicted that "Palestine was a tomb for Jews."
Sunday's bus bombing was a grim replay of last week's deadly suicide bus bombing along the same route and at the same time. There were 26 killed in that attack.
The militant Islamic group Hamas also claimed responsibility for the other two attacks.
Anger and outrage
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat denounced the attack, saying the world will not tolerate such acts.
Arafat acted swiftly to meet Israeli demands for tough security measures, outlawing the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the self-rule areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
President Clinton praised Arafat for his prompt actions in response to the bombing. But Clinton said he will encourage Arafat to do more.
"I do believe chairman Arafat has made efforts and I think that he will make more," Clinton said.
A White House official said Clinton had called Peres to express his condolences and outrage and to discuss what the latest development means for the Middle East peace talks.
The president re-emphasized his determination to do everything possible to be supportive in the effort against terrorism. (196K AIFF sound or 196K WAV sound)
Terrorists shouldn't be allowed to derail the peace process, Clinton said. His Middle East advisers plan to meet Monday with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who said he was "angered and outraged by the brutal bombing attack."
"The United States condemns this grotesque and uncivilized act of terrorism," Christopher said.
Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, urged the Jewish state not to abandon the peace process.
"Stopping negotiations ... would be giving in to the conspiracies and tricks which aim to stop the peace process," Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said.
Russia, Britain, Germany, France and Pope John Paul II, expressed similar disapproval of the bombing. In a statement, the Russian government condemned the "irrational criminal act by extremists aiming to block the movement of the region toward peace."
A British spokesman rang out, "We deplore this outrageous and cowardly act."
But Iran, accused by Israel and the United States of funding the suicide bombers, said the bombings simply proved that Israel had failed to achieve peace with Arafat.
The Libyan news agency, JANA, said Gadhafi in January 1995 predicted "a day will come when sand will be removed from this tomb and the Jews will be buried there." JANA also referred to the suicide bombers as "martyrs."
In Damascas, radical Palestine groups vocalized their opinions. Fahd al-Qudsi, a spokesman for one of these groups, vowed, "The attacks will continue and neither Arafat nor Israel will be able to stop them."
Related Stories
Feedback
- Send us your comments - Selected responses are posted daily.
![[Imagemap]](/WORLD/images/9601/navbar2.gif){kind=small}
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.