An attack on a Jerusalem-bound passenger bus was averted by the arrest of a 21-year-old West Bank Palestinian early Sunday morning at Tel Aviv’s central bus station.
According to a police report issued Monday, the suspect confessed he planned to stab the driver and force the bus off the road somewhere en route to Jerusalem.
A police spokeswoman said the suspect admitted he planned the act to mark the seventh anniversary of the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut, and “because his brothers were being killed every day in the intifada.”
Had the suspect such assault in two months on Egged bus route No. 405, which travels daily between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The arrest was credited to a bus security guard who collared the youth because he was acting suspiciously and had tried to force his way onto the bus.
The suspect was brought to a police post in the terminal, where he was asked to empty his bag. According to the police, a commando knife was found wrapped in cloth.
The two earlier attacks led to tightened security and a high state of alert on the route.
On July 6, an Arab passenger wrested the wheel from the driver of another No. 405 bus, plunging the vehicle into a ravine, where it exploded. Sixteen passengers were killed and 27 injured.
On Sept. 9, the driver of a bus on the same route was stabbed in the stomach by an Arab, who was overpowered by other passengers and arrested.
Both incidents have been linked to the Palestinian uprising.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
