Three schoolgirls wounded in ambush on Israeli bus in West Bank

[Behind the Aegis]

A Palestinian gunman opened fire on an Israeli bus in the West Bank, lightly wounding three Israeli high school girls on Monday afternoon.

Another two girls suffered from shock in the wake of the ambush.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an armed wing of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack, Israel Radio reported.

The bus was attacked near the Palestinian village of Singil located to the north of Ramallah, the Israel Defense Forces said.


more...

[BayCityProgressive]

1. Now watch

if Israel responds to inoccent civilians being attacked you will see this board swamped with posts bashing Israel. I would say some of Israel's responses are pretty moderate compared to the US. We have occupied two countries since 9/11.

[Tom Joad]

2. Were the Israeli children visiting the West Bank?

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Does it matter?

Visiting or not, are you advocating** schoolCHILDREN being shot at?!

(On edit: ** add "and/or excusing")

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. self-delete

[Tom Joad]

8. How did you come to that sick question??

I asked a simple question. Why are Israeli-Jewish school kids in the West Bank?

[Behind the Aegis]

11. You asked the question on a thread about them being SHOT at

I was asking about the implication of that "simple question." So what does it matter WHY they are there? The article is about an ATTACK on them, not on whether Jewish people should be there or not. It is no different than asking on a thread about rape, what was she wearing?

[Tom Joad]

14. There is no excuse for an attack on children, any more than there is

an excuse for parents for taking children into a dangerous situation.

Those who hurt these children should be held accountable.
Same as those who take children into occupied land. It is using children to further a crime.

[pelsar]

15. putting their children in danger......

so i guess that means the palestenain parents who took their kids to beach in N. Gaza an area known for having been shelled before are "guilty".....

or is there a double standard here: israeli parents putting their kids in danger is one thing...palestenains doing it, is something else?

[Tom Joad]

18. I am still waiting for an answer for a simple question.

But the beach does belong to Gaza, right? Gazans should be able to go to their beach, right?

Bringing small children into an illegal settlement? that's another thing entirely. Why does Israel permit such things?

Why must i be accused, wrongly, of not caring about children that were harmed?

[pelsar]

22. west bank....

thats where some palestenians tried to murder some children......i didnt know that children entering some buildings of whom they dont have ownership is a good enough reason to kill them....


and yes gazans should be able to go to their beach..and jewish children should be able to go to school....

the accusations still stand loud and clear: israeli children being targeted: "that another thing entirely"...as clear as it gets

[Tom Joad]

24. Exactly. If they were shot while tresspassing, the shooter would

be held, and should be held, responsible.

Likewise, if their parents sent them into the building, (or in this case, a whole government), they too would be held accountable for their actions as well.

[pelsar]

27. and the palestenains...

sending families to picnic in an area known to be a war zone.....

[Andromeda]

34. You're the one who asked a sick question....

and you don't explain why you asked it.

[Tom Joad]

35. More information helps.

It seems reasonable to ask the question why Israeli government allows illegal settlements to be populated by children. To bring children into such a situation is not caring for their safety. Using adults in such an illegal enterprise is also an expression of disregard for civilian life, but at least many of the adults do this by choice and even desire because of their belief that the land only belongs to Jewish people.

By saying that, it in no way excuses the targeting of any civilians, especially children.

But i can post just about anything and be accused of all sorts of things inferred from that statement. Sometimes there will be references to Nazis, or anti-semitism, or religious fanaticism. But the response is predictable and hysterical.

People believe what they believe, and there is no way of stopping that.

[pelsar]

6. whats the difference?

all of a sudden it matters where they were?....they were riding in a school bus! and there is no mention of a military jeep being behind it

your question "hints" at the "justification" of intentionally shooting at school children

[BayCityProgressive]

7. no no no you guys

don't you know EVERYTHING is Israel's fault...even if their kids are blown up it is Israel's fault. Stop arguing...

[Tom Joad]

10. No one can answer a simple question?

[pelsar]

16. relevance?

i didnt really bother learning where it happend....i'm dont understand how its relevant...unless one is trying to make a case that it ok to target school children for going to the wrong school

[Tom Joad]

9. Unlike others here, i have never carried weapons of war.

I do not condone the killing of Palestinian or Israeli children.
But no one can answer why these children are in the West Bank.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tom Joad]

13. show "know" remorse? How do you pretend to know my feelings?

[pelsar]

17. school outing? on there way to a picnic?

meeting a group of palestenains kids for a peace meeting? on their way to hebron to support the settlers? going to school to learn math?

so now its ok to target kids depending upon where the school bus is going?....i guess israeli school busses should have signs on them with their destination and contents (type of kids) to the palestenians will know which busses are "kosher' to shoot at and which arent.

interesting philosophy....i wonder if islamic jihad will agree to it...or the ISM...

[Tom Joad]

20. That is not based on anything i wrote.

[pelsar]

21. its what you "hinted at"

by asking where were the kids....and then in a later post mentioning parents putting their kids in danger......not hard to figure out where you're going with that....

but it does get messy if we apply the same to the palestenians....

[Tom Joad]

23. Of course by taking kids into illegal settlements is putting them in

it is putting them in danger.

But it is a giant, and false leap, to come to the conclusion that I think it is okay to shoot at children. I have never done that.
No matter how many times i say i do not condone the shooting of children, you will say otherwise.
Seems like i am talking to a brick wall.

You have answered my question though, you do not know why these children were in the West Bank. that could have been said without jumping to false conclusions. Maybe we will get more information later.

[Igel]

29. The link's fairly clear, actually.

All girls at religious high school (yeshiva?) in Dolev. Dolev is a settlement, it seems, NW of Ramallah, SW of Bi'r Zeit.

Sinjil is just north of Ramallah, almost half-way to Nablus. Just north of Sinjil there are 5 settlements, according to my West-Bank map: Shillo, Mizpe Rahel, 'Eli, Ma'ale Levona, Qaryut.

Ari'el and some others are farther north.


It was afternoon, Monday, on a bus, so I'd say it's reasonable to say they were on their way from high school to their homes in the settlements N of Sinjil. I'm also thinking more 'van' than large yellow school bus. But still recognizable.

[pelsar]

19. I have carried weapons of war....

and the only reason to pull the trigger when a bus full of children is within ones sights is when one wants to kill them....

[barb162]

25. This is a disgusting and senseless attack on kids

[Tom Joad]

26. I agree.

[applegrove]

28. Hamas should have instituted peace after the attack on the Beach.

They are obviously a bunch of crazy nuts. Not interested in political evolution or political power whatsoever.

Being used by the Saudis and the Iranians and other despots.. to have a scapegoat in Israel.

[AlienPundit]

30. Genocidal regime

Here you go:

"Israel: Israel must end unlawful killings of Palestinians and stop reckless shelling
Amnesty International is calling on Israel to end immediately its reckless shelling and air strikes against the Gaza Strip, which have killed and injured scores of unarmed Palestinians, including several women and children, in recent months.

(snip)

Since the beginning of 2006 Israeli forces have killed more than 130 Palestinians, many of them unarmed and including more than 20 children. In the same period 16 Israelis, two of them children, have been killed by Palestinian armed groups.

While Israeli officials contend that soldiers only open fire when their lives are at risk and only respond to the source of Palestinian fire, the large number of unarmed Palestinians, including more than 600 children, killed by Israeli forces in the past five and a half years indicates otherwise."
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE150492006

It's hard to contend with the truth. The facts speak for themselves.

Israel is a genocidal state and an international pariah.

[applegrove]

31. You left out 5 years of suicide bombers in Israel? Your stats work

around that. Most every single one of the suicide bombers was if not currently a child.. then recently had been a child. Hamas is occasionally agreeing to peace. Why not after the beach incident? Why did they just keep on keeping on and kill two Israeli school girls? Seems like they don't want to score political points (and believe it or not..that worries me..cause whoever is 'calliing the shots' really isn't interested in humanity and its relationship to being in political power). Quite a few more children will be dead.. everyone will have forgotten about the horrible attack on the beach (caught on film for once).. and Hamas (or whoever) will negotiate a peace in another few months.

[cali]

32. Define

international pariah. Define genocide. Such a broad claim really does require doing so.

[Phx_Dem]

33. the link to AI

"Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Israeli authorities to:

- take concrete measures to put an immediate end to reckless, random and disproportionate fire by Israeli forces;

- ensure that all killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces are promptly and independently investigated and that anyone found to be responsible for the unlawful killing of civilians is brought to justice."

It's all on the Israelis as usual. :shrug: