Bomber wasn't a bomber
Palestine-Israel, Local, 7/21/1998

Next to the house of Jalal Abdul Rahman Rummaneh in Al Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, relatives and friends gathered hoping to hear more details of their friend, Jalal, whom Israel alleges tried to detonate a booby-trapped car in West Jerusalem on Sunday.

None of those who gathered outside seemed to believe the Israeli version. True Jalal was a religious person but he never gave the impression that he would be one of those Hamas suicide bombers, they said.

Bilal Fayez, 14, is one of the young boys working over their summer vacation for the construction company run by Jalal. He said he was the one who loaded the car with nails, tools, work material, hammers, three empty plastic containers that were due to be filled with petrol and cooking gas. "He told me that the natural gas balloon was for workers who live in Jericho and that the petrol was bound for relatives who live far away from a petrol station," said Bilal.

Jalal's mother finds it near impossible for her to believe the Israeli version. The mother, Rawiya, admits that her son was an Intifada activist during the Israeli occupation. "Like the rest of the Palestinian people, he was against the Israeli occupation. He was in jail. He paid a hard price. Four years ago, his father died, and the burden of supporting the family fell on his shoulders. Since then, he swore that he wouldn't get involved any longer in politics. I don't believe that he intended to carry out an attack."

Even Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement that was alleged to be behind the attempt, denied any involvement. A leading member in the movement in Gaza said: "What we all saw on television was a car going ablaze and not a vehicle loaded with explosives."

"It was a sad accident and Hamas leadership has no knowledge at all of any attempt. Otherwise, the military arm of Hamas would have already issued a communique," said Ismail Abu Shanab. He added that the Israelis were apparently worried of further pressure on them and hours before Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai met with Abu Mazen, they utilized the mere accident and portrayed it as if it was a suicide bombing attempt.

Guarded by two policemen, Jalal is recuperating in Hadassah Hospital in West Jerusalem. He sustained severe burns as the car he drove went on fire in Jaffa Road, West Jerusalem's commercial center. His doctors said they believe he will survive his injuries but it might take some time. His Israeli interrogators have not questioned him yet due to his serious health condition. They are waiting for him to regain his ability to speak before any interrogation is done. Yet, Israeli troops raided the offices of Jalal's company on the road between Ramallah and Jerusalem, sealed them off and arrested a number of employees.

The Israelis, meanwhile, seem more convinced that Jalal may have had operated on his own and not necessarily upon instructions from Hamas command. An Israeli security source said that suicide bombers have no problem setting up cars of this type, and infiltrating with them to Israel. "The bombs in the car were legitimate. All of the components that he had, that is each one separately, was entirely legitimate (legal items), and we will have a tough time stopping the penetration of such cars in the future. It seems he acted on his own, personally, and set up the explosives alone," the source said.

Palestinian security officials speculated that Hamas would never have organized such a primitive operation. Palestinian sources said that their preliminary inquiry showed that Hamas wasn't behind the incident in Jerusalem. "We're apparently talking about an attempt made by a youth or a group of youths to carry out an attack for personal reasons. Had it been Hamas which perpetrated the attack, he wouldn't have done it in such an amateurish fashion," the sources said.

Yet Israeli police continued to receive phone calls placed by concerned Israelis about suspicious objects in Jerusalem. Those calls have at least doubled since Sunday morning, police sources said. The number of daily calls the police receive in normal periods is no more than 50 but right after the car incident on Sunday, the calls reached one hundred in less than one day.

Previous Stories:
  Palestinian injured in East Jerusalem blast outside PLO headquarters   (7/13/1998)
  Palestinians protest Israeli army slaying of Arab   (6/13/1998)
  Palestinian driver shot by Israeli police   (4/7/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search