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38 PEOPLE INJURED IN SUICIDE BOMBING ATTACK IN HAIFA
One man was moderately injured and 37 were lightly injured in a suicide bombing at the Checkpost intersection in Haifa on Sunday morning, MA'ARIV reported. Initially, only a small part of the terrorist's bomb exploded, and the suicide bomber lay wounded in the street. He tried to set off the rest of the bomb and died when a police officer and a sapper shot him.
According to HA'ARETZ, the police believe the bomber was planning to board one of the many buses to Nazareth, Afula and Migdal Haemek that stop at a row of bus stations at the Checkpost, but when he was spotted by two police officers on patrol he detonated earlier than he had planned.
"We were on a routine patrol when I saw a suspicious-looking man with a black coat zipped to the throat. We went past him, and about 10 meters past, I realized he was suspicious and backed up toward him. He saw us coming and blew himself up," Mst.-Sgt. Hanan Malka said. Chief Superintendent Ron Goldberger, head of the detective squad in the main Haifa police station, saw the terrorist move his hands, trying to set off the rest of the bomb, and shot him with the help of a police sapper.
The Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the bombing and announced that the terrorist was Nimr Abu Sayfien, 20, from the town of Yamoun, near Jenin in the West Bank.
In other incidents, a garbage can exploded in the Arnona neighborhood of Jerusalem this afternoon. No injuries were reported. At the nearby Armon Hanatziv promenade, Palestinians attacked a pedestrian and injured him. In addition, Palestinians fired four mortar shells at a community in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip this afternoon, lightly wounding a girl.
Palestinians also launched mortar shells at civilians and Israel Defense Forces soldiers in Gush Katif over the weekend. Israel responded with an air strike against Palestinian intelligence and Force 17 headquarters in Rafiah. There were no injuries reported.
PATAKI, GIULIANI, BLOOMBERG SHOW SOLIDARITY IN JERUSALEM VISIT
Governor of New York George Pataki, outgoing New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Mayor-Elect Michael Bloomberg completed a 13-hour solidarity visit to Jerusalem on Sunday night, HA'ARETZ reported. "On behalf of nearly 19 million New Yorkers, I want to tell you that the strong ties and the special bonds that connect our two peoples are stronger than ever before," Pataki said at a special Hanukah candle-lighting ceremony in Jerusalem's Zion Square.
The three met with President Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres while in Jerusalem. They also toured the city with Mayor Ehud Olmert and visited the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall, where two suicide bombers blew themselves up on December 1, killing 11 people and injuring more than 170. They stopped outside of Sbarro's pizzeria, where a bomber killed 16 people in August. They also visited the Western Wall and two hospitals where they talked to people who suffered injuries in the last terror attack in Jerusalem. Giuliani also visited the neighborhood of Gilo.
According to MA'ARIV, Giuliani said that he "arrived in Israel to show the American people it is still possible to visit Israel and Jerusalem," and encouraged the American and Israeli people to keep living their lives. "We cannot let the terrorists win," he said. Giuliani added that he "can think of no other people, no other country, who gave us more support, who gave us an example of how to stand up to terror than the people of Israel."
In a visit to the Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital, Bloomberg told Joseph Leiser, 29, from Borough Park, NY, who was wounded in the Sbarro bombing, that Israel and the United States cannot let terror win, and invited him and his wife to attend his inauguration ceremony in New York on January 1, 2002.
EU TO ARAFAT: END UPRISING IMMEDIATELY
The European Union General Affairs Council called on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to make a statement in Arabic to the Palestinian people, telling them that the current uprising must be brought to a complete halt, YEDIOT AHARONOT ON-LINE reported. EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana will travel to Israel tomorrow to tell Arafat in person that he must dismantle the weaponry of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and to demand that he immediately arrest and put on trial all known terrorists.
According to THE JERUSALEM POST, Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres met the GAC today in Brussels, and delivered a message that the time for "even-handedness" is over, and that the Europeans need to realize the PA is the party preventing any progress. PA Planning Minister Nabil Shaath was also present at the meeting but did not meet privately with Peres.
ANNAN MEETS WITH FAMILIES OF THREE KIDNAPPED SOLDIERS IN OSLO
Family members of kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldiers St.-Sgts. Benny Avraham and Omar Souad and Sgt. Adi Avitan met with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Oslo on Sunday, HA'ARETZ reported. Annan was in Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize and met with the families at the Oslo Synagogue to light the first candle for Hanukah.
Annan promised the families that Special Envoy to the Middle East Terje Larsen would show them the videotape made by United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon soldiers after the kidnapping and also promised to return the personal belongings of the soldiers that were found by UNIFIL troops near Har Dov. He vowed to do all he could to help the families.
Avitan, Avraham and Souad were kidnapped in October of 2000 by Hizbullah forces in the Har Dov region. The IDF declared the three dead last month.
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