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American Morning
Jerusalem Bus Bombing
Aired November 21, 2002 - 07:05 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn our attention back to that commuter bus bombing in Jerusalem this morning. Palestinian officials are condemning the attack, which killed at least 11 people, including children on their way to school.
Jerrold Kessel joins us now from the scene in Jerusalem.
Jerrold -- how bad is it?
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bad. Paula, it was a bad incident, 7:20 in the morning, a packed bus from this low-income neighborhood heading off into the city. People going to work, many teenagers heading to high school, and many of them were among the casualties -- 11 dead and some 50 wounded in this attack.
Israeli police are saying it was a 26-year-old Palestinian man from the town of Bethlehem. That's just about five miles away across the hills in the West Bank.
And the explosion that rocked the houses, the tenement buildings in the neighborhood was so powerful that it almost knocked people out of their beds. That was the testimony given to us by 67-year-old Simcha Cohen, who came down shortly afterwards to look at the horror on the scene.
And we spoke to her, and I asked her if she really believed that these bombings would ever end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMCHA COHEN, BOMBING WITNESS: I pray every day, every night, every single day I say, 'God, put in our hearts the love, start to love each other!'
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KESSEL: A cry of anguish there really, and it is a good deal -- there is a good deal of anguish, also anger, here on the scene as things get back as best as they can to normal. The No. 20 bus has been running again behind me periodically, coming past the same bus station where that suicide bomber blew up the earlier bus.
People have been lighting candles, saying prayers, and along with that, a good deal of pain remaining here at this latest terror attack in an Israeli city -- Paula.
ZAHN: Well, now that Israeli police have identified this bomber, what are they telling you about this kid?
KESSEL: Well, it's a very interesting thing. They have identified him. They have given his name. They say he's from Bethlehem, although we have sources say that he has resided in Bethlehem only in the last while (ph). Before that, he came from a village further south in the West Bank.
But they did say that he was not known to the Israeli Security Forces in any way, of any affiliation to a Palestinian group, and there has been no claim of responsibility from any of the Palestinian groups -- the radical nationalists or the radical Islamic groups. We'll wait to hear if there will be such a claim, and the Israelis will continue, as they say, their battles against all of the Palestinian groups who keep on trying to strike in Israeli cities.
ZAHN: Jerrold Kessel, live from Jerusalem -- thanks so much.
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 - 07:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn our attention back to that commuter bus bombing in Jerusalem this morning. Palestinian officials are condemning the attack, which killed at least 11 people, including children on their way to school.
Jerrold Kessel joins us now from the scene in Jerusalem.
Jerrold -- how bad is it?
JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bad. Paula, it was a bad incident, 7:20 in the morning, a packed bus from this low-income neighborhood heading off into the city. People going to work, many teenagers heading to high school, and many of them were among the casualties -- 11 dead and some 50 wounded in this attack.
Israeli police are saying it was a 26-year-old Palestinian man from the town of Bethlehem. That's just about five miles away across the hills in the West Bank.
And the explosion that rocked the houses, the tenement buildings in the neighborhood was so powerful that it almost knocked people out of their beds. That was the testimony given to us by 67-year-old Simcha Cohen, who came down shortly afterwards to look at the horror on the scene.
And we spoke to her, and I asked her if she really believed that these bombings would ever end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMCHA COHEN, BOMBING WITNESS: I pray every day, every night, every single day I say, 'God, put in our hearts the love, start to love each other!'
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KESSEL: A cry of anguish there really, and it is a good deal -- there is a good deal of anguish, also anger, here on the scene as things get back as best as they can to normal. The No. 20 bus has been running again behind me periodically, coming past the same bus station where that suicide bomber blew up the earlier bus.
People have been lighting candles, saying prayers, and along with that, a good deal of pain remaining here at this latest terror attack in an Israeli city -- Paula.
ZAHN: Well, now that Israeli police have identified this bomber, what are they telling you about this kid?
KESSEL: Well, it's a very interesting thing. They have identified him. They have given his name. They say he's from Bethlehem, although we have sources say that he has resided in Bethlehem only in the last while (ph). Before that, he came from a village further south in the West Bank.
But they did say that he was not known to the Israeli Security Forces in any way, of any affiliation to a Palestinian group, and there has been no claim of responsibility from any of the Palestinian groups -- the radical nationalists or the radical Islamic groups. We'll wait to hear if there will be such a claim, and the Israelis will continue, as they say, their battles against all of the Palestinian groups who keep on trying to strike in Israeli cities.
ZAHN: Jerrold Kessel, live from Jerusalem -- thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
