An Arab man from the Gaza Strip fatally stabbed four. Israeli women in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon and seriously wounded another bystander, reportedly a child.
The assailant said he wanted to send a “message to Baker,” in reference to U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who was to arrive Monday for talks with government leaders and Palestinians on resolving the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
The attack occurred at a bus stop next to a playground in the western Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel. Three of the victims, who died on the spot, were identified as Rose Elyafsour, 32; Mercedes Banita, 57; and Miriam Biton, 20.
A fourth victim, who died in the hospital, was not immediately identified. She was described as between 50 and 60 years of age.
The assailant, himself wounded and captured by police, was identified as Mohammed Mustafa Abu-Ghala, 26, a nurse from the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza. A blood-soaked 10-inch kitchen knife was found at the scene.
According to eyewitnesses, the attacker stepped out of a car and began stabbing people at random near the playground, which is home to the well-known “monster,” a giant, free-form, multicolored sculpture on which children climb and slide. The playground was filled with children and their mothers at the time of the attack.
A police detective shot the assailant in the leg. He was rushed to Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, where he was treated and questioned. Police said he refused to cooperate.
Police Minister Ronni Milo promptly barred Arabs from the territories from entering Jerusalem “until further notice” and was considering extending the ban to all of Israel proper for the two days of Baker’s visit.
PALESTINIAN MODERATES SHOCKED
The killings enraged Israelis, many of whom stormed through Kiryat Yovel and other sections of Jerusalem crying, “Death to the Arabs!” and “Revenge!”
They also shouted “Baker go home!” apparently because the U.S. administration espouses territorial compromise for peace, not a popular idea among many Israelis.
Palestinian leaders waiting for word from the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem whether Baker would meet with them seemed shocked and dismayed by the brutal killings.
The violent act signified that the recently dormant intifada was being revived. But the killings seemed more an act of a religious fundamentalist than the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The assailant, while chasing another young woman at a bus stop, had called out “Allahu akhbar!” (God is great), a rallying cry of religious Moslems. He also comes from Gaza, where the fundamentalist organization Hamas holds sway.
Palestinian moderates seemed to be caught off balance by the quadruple murder.
Although PLO chief Yasir Arafat reportedly ordered a resumption of the Palestinian uprising, Arafat and the PLO have lost much credibility and have been widely condemned in many Arab states for supporting Saddam Hussein during the Persian Gulf seven-month crisis and six-week war.
Palestinian moderates had hoped Baker’s visit would give them an opportunity to improve their image as credible partners in the peace process.
Mayor Elias Freij of Bethlehem, a leading moderate likely to be included in a Palestinian group meeting with Baker, condemned the killings.
“It is against our nature as Arabs to attack and kill women,” he said.
But Moslem fundamentalists have been railing against any meeting with Baker. During Friday prayers, the Moslem clergy using the loudspeakers on mosques, warned that the “death penalty” awaited anyone who would meet with Baker.
Knesset member Geula Cohen of the right-wing Tehiya party, claimed Sunday that President Bush gave the “green light” for the killings when he endorsed the land-for-peace formula in his speech to a joint session of Congress last week.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s media spokesman, Avi Pazner, said this “disgusting act” showed how difficult it is to reach an agreement with people “who are capable of murdering innocent women and children.”
The dovish Citizens Rights Movement expressed shock, saying the murders “proved the Palestinians are their own worst enemies, because they ruin every chance for peace.”
In New York, Shoshana Cardin, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued a statement expressing “shock and horror” at what she called the “cowardly act.”
“These tragic deaths are a warning of the peril that Israel faces and a reminder that any movement toward peace in the region requires absolute guarantees of Israel’s security,” she said.
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