Palestinians Israelis deserved Haifa bombing

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Background / Palestinians: Israelis 'deserved' Haifa bombing

Satisfaction among Palestinians following the Wednesday's bus bombing in Haifa was much greater than after previous attacks. This was the impression received by a group of Palestinian journalists who carried out interviews in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A youth who enrolled in a computer course in East Jerusalem said Wednesday that when he came to the class everyone welcomed him saying, "Finally! The Israelis got what was coming to them!"

"We have 40 killed every week, so don't expect us to sit in silence," an Al-Aqsa Brigades member told journalists in Ramallah. Even senior Palestinian Authority officials, who condemned the attack, added that it was only to be expected considering Israel's "daily slaughter," as a spokesman for the PLO in Ramallah said.

Palestinian sources gave details Wednesday on the overall number of Palestinian deaths during the intifada, and particularly the number killed over the last few days. According to data from Dr. Moussa Bargouti, one of the leaders of the National Party, and an activist for citizens' rights in Ramallah, some 85 percent of Palestinians killed since the start of the intifada were civilians.

Other Palestinian sources said that since the last suicide bombing, on Jauary 6 in Tel Aviv's old central bus station, 156 Palestinians have been killed - including 17 children - and only 40 of them were armed. During the last few days, for example, a pregnant woman and a 75-year-old man were killed in the Gaza Strip, as well as a deaf youth in Tul Karm.

Hamas spokesman were furious with the PA's condemnation of the attack. "They are speaking as if they had autonomy," Hamas members mocked. Some added descriptions of the mosque that the IDF damaged in Rafah two days ago, and said, "it was clear that the IDF would have to pay for this."

Most of the Palestinian leadership and the people in the street said Wednesday it was clear to them that any decrease in the number of attacks was the result of decisions within Hamas and other organizations, and not the result of IDF operations, as Israel believes. According to Palestinian estimates, this decrease was because of the self-restraint of these organizations, who wanted to give a chance to the Cairo talks on a cease-fire. "But it's clear nothing had changed," an East Jerusalem journalist said Wednesday. "Israel continues to strike us whether there are attacks or not."

As an example, they cite the Qassam rockets recently fired on the Negev town of Sderot. Senior officers in the Palestinian security apparatus in Gaza said that each time they succeed in preventing the launch of a rocket, along comes an IDF incursion, killing and destroying, goading Hamas to respond with yet more rockets to prove that Israelis force can't defeat them.

_{By Danny Rubinstein, Haaretz Correspondent}