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CNN Live At Daybreak
Bus Attack in West Jerusalem
Aired November 21, 2002 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we do want to take you to the scene of this morning's bus attack in West Jerusalem.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel is there live -- Jerrold, bring us up to date. How many were killed?
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, 11 people killed by the suicide bomber aboard Bus Number 20 here in the Kiriff Menachem (ph) neighborhood. That's a low income neighborhood in West Jerusalem, as, during the morning rush hour the bus was absolutely crowded. Some 50 people wounded, some of them still in serious condition.
Now, the commotion has died down. People are still gathering around the bus stop to mourn and consider the trauma of this morning's event. But it wasn't like that back at 7:20 this morning, that's just about four and a half hours ago, when Bus Number 20 pulled up at this stop and seconds later the suicide bomber aboard, believed to be by Palestinian -- by Israeli police to be a 26-year-old Palestinian from Bethlehem, which is just about five miles across the hills in the West Bank, blew himself up, causing all those casualties.
The explosion was so great that it rocked all the buildings nearby here in this low income neighborhood. One of those to whom we spoke soon afterwards was Simcha Cohen, who said she'd literally been almost knocked out of her bed by the blast. And I asked her, as she tried to gather her emotions as the bodies were being carried away in ambulances to the morgue, whether she believed that the bombings would ever stop.
SIMCHA COHEN, BOMBING WITNESS: When we stop to talk too much, when the people love each other, when the people start to realize that it's not life like this. We have to start a new life. It's enough. Sixty-five years I'm living with the fight in Jerusalem. When I came from Baghdad, it was more hot, it was from Hebron.
CHANCE: Incidents there, yes?
COHEN: Yes. And all the time around and around and around and around, it's fight and fight and fight and fight.
CHANCE: Do you believe in your heart that perhaps the bombs will stop?
COHEN: I hope so. I pray every day, every night, every single day I say god, put in our hearts the love. Start to love each other. CHANCE: Some people have been arguing since then of what should do, how they should make their political choice. When they go to the polls in January, at the end of January, to choose a new leadership. Whether this kind of bombing will have an effect on that election, well, it remains to be seen. But for the moment, it's the anguish here, the anguish and the fear as people light candles, say prayers at the site of the bus stop and remain with the pain, the very deep pain of this morning's latest terror attack here in Jerusalem -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 21, 2002 - 05:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we do want to take you to the scene of this morning's bus attack in West Jerusalem.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel is there live -- Jerrold, bring us up to date. How many were killed?
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, 11 people killed by the suicide bomber aboard Bus Number 20 here in the Kiriff Menachem (ph) neighborhood. That's a low income neighborhood in West Jerusalem, as, during the morning rush hour the bus was absolutely crowded. Some 50 people wounded, some of them still in serious condition.
Now, the commotion has died down. People are still gathering around the bus stop to mourn and consider the trauma of this morning's event. But it wasn't like that back at 7:20 this morning, that's just about four and a half hours ago, when Bus Number 20 pulled up at this stop and seconds later the suicide bomber aboard, believed to be by Palestinian -- by Israeli police to be a 26-year-old Palestinian from Bethlehem, which is just about five miles across the hills in the West Bank, blew himself up, causing all those casualties.
The explosion was so great that it rocked all the buildings nearby here in this low income neighborhood. One of those to whom we spoke soon afterwards was Simcha Cohen, who said she'd literally been almost knocked out of her bed by the blast. And I asked her, as she tried to gather her emotions as the bodies were being carried away in ambulances to the morgue, whether she believed that the bombings would ever stop.
SIMCHA COHEN, BOMBING WITNESS: When we stop to talk too much, when the people love each other, when the people start to realize that it's not life like this. We have to start a new life. It's enough. Sixty-five years I'm living with the fight in Jerusalem. When I came from Baghdad, it was more hot, it was from Hebron.
CHANCE: Incidents there, yes?
COHEN: Yes. And all the time around and around and around and around, it's fight and fight and fight and fight.
CHANCE: Do you believe in your heart that perhaps the bombs will stop?
COHEN: I hope so. I pray every day, every night, every single day I say god, put in our hearts the love. Start to love each other. CHANCE: Some people have been arguing since then of what should do, how they should make their political choice. When they go to the polls in January, at the end of January, to choose a new leadership. Whether this kind of bombing will have an effect on that election, well, it remains to be seen. But for the moment, it's the anguish here, the anguish and the fear as people light candles, say prayers at the site of the bus stop and remain with the pain, the very deep pain of this morning's latest terror attack here in Jerusalem -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jerrold Kessel, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
