Beit Lid massacre
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| Beit Lid massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Beit Lid Junction, Israel |
| Date | January 22, 1995 9:30 AM – (UTC+2) |
| Attack type | Suicide attack |
| Deaths | 21 |
| Injured | 69 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Anwar Soukar, Salah Shaaker |
The Beit Lid massacre[1][2][3][4] was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide attack against Israel. The attack occurred at the Beit Lid Junction, on January 22, 1995. It was the first suicide attack by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Contents |
[edit] Background
In 1994, Hani Abed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative, was able to broker an alliance between Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. (Hani was later assassinated by Israel). As part of the alliance, Hamas's chief bombmaker, Yahya Ayyash, built the bombs used by Islamic Jihad for the Beit Lid suicide attack. Ayyash built three bombs. Each was made using plumber's pipe (one foot long and eight inches wide) and five kilograms of military-grade TNT, surrounded by nails.[5]
The Beit Lid junction is a well-known waypoint towards Netanya. Strategically, it is an important crossroads between Tel Aviv and Haifa located on Highway 4. "On Sunday mornings, Beit Lid was swamped with thousands of young soldiers and aging reservists heading back to West Bank duty from weekend leaves"[5] Ashmoret Prison is located in the southwest corner of the Beit Lid junction. At the time of the bombing, Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, was being held there.[5]
[edit] The bombing
At approximately 9:30 AM, Anwar Soukar walked to the pay phones, dropped to his knees, and began to feign illness. As soldiers gathered around him, Soukar reached into his kit bag and detonated the bomb.
As soon as the first explosion went off, Ashmoret Prison went into lockdown. Corrections officers feared the bombing was a prelude to an attack on the prison to rescue Yassin, who was immediately rushed back to his cell.
Emergency crews began to descend on the scene. As they began to triage the wounded, Salah Shaaker raced to where the first bomb had exploded. When he reached the spot, he flipped a switch in his upper torso, detonating another bomb. [5]
[edit] The aftermath
Yitzhak Rabin toured bombing site the next day. As Rabin toured the site, he walked within yards of a kit bag containing a third bomb. Shaaker had left it there for a third suicide bomber, Shahdi Abed al-Rahim, who never made it to the junction. al-Rahim was to have used the bomb to kill Rabin and the Shabak agents accompanying him. The bomb was later recovered, and provided investigators with more evidence implicating Ayyash.[6]
[edit] References
- Katz, Samuel. The Hunt for the Engineer. Lyons Press, 2002. ISBN 1-58574-749-1
[edit] Notes
- ^ "But after the Beit Lid massacre, the government approved the construction and sale of 4000 units in occupied land around Jerusalem." Beyer, Lisa. "Can Peace Survive", Time, February 06, 1995.
- ^ "When Arafat called Rabin to express his condolences on the Beit Lid massacre, the prime minister was understandably furious." Karsh, Efraim, Arafat's War: The Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest, Grove Press, 2003, p. 116. ISBN 0802117589
- ^ "The reaction of peace processors in Jerusalem and Washington to the Beit Lid massacre, in which Islamic suicide bombers wiped out a score of Israelis, has been shock, anger, sorrow -- but a determination that terrorist attacks not be allowed to stop the peace process." Safire, William. "Essay; Responding to Terror", The New York Times, January 26, 1995.
- ^ "President Ezer Weizman, a super-dove who initially supported the agreement wholeheartedly, called for a temporary suspension of talks following the Beit Lid massacre on January 22 and again after the February 6 killing in Gaza." Bar-Ilan, David. "Rain of terror - Israeli politics", National Review, March 6, 1995, p. 2.
- ^ a b c d Katz, 166-167
- ^ Katz, 168
