Passover massacre
Encyclopedia
The Passover massacre was a suicide bombing carried out by Hamas
at the Park Hotel in Netanya
, Israel
on March 27, 2002, during a Passover seder
. Thirty civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured. It was the deadliest attack against Israelis during the Second Intifada.
in 2002, the "Park" Hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya
held its traditional annual Passover seder
(festive religious meal) for its 250 guests, in the hotel dining room located at the ground floor of the hotel. During this holiday the hotel consisted many elderly Jews who didn't have family and relatives in Israel.
In the evening of March 27, 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as a woman approached the hotel carrying a suitcase which contained powerful explosives. The suicide bomber managed to pass the security guard at the entrance to a hotel, then he walked through the lobby passing the reception desk and entered the hotel's crowded dining room
. At 19:30 pm (GMT
+2) the suicide bomber detonated the explosive device he was carrying. The force of the explosion instantly killed 28 civilians and injured about 140 people, of whom 20 were injured severely. Two of the injured later died from their wounds. Some of the victims were Holocaust survivors. Most of the victims were senior citizens (70 and over). The oldest victim was 90 and the youngest was 20 years old. A number of married couples were killed, as well as a father together with his daughter. One of the victims was a Jewish tourist from Sweden who was visiting Israel for Passover.
claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber was identified as Abdel-Basset Odeh, a 25-year-old from the nearby West Bank
city of Tulkarm
. Hamas claimed that the attack was specifically designed to derail momentum from a recently announced peace initiative
of the Saudi Arabia
n government at the Beirut Summit.
Israel:
Palestinian territories:
Supranational: Kofi Annan
, United Nations Secretary General stated that he condemned suicide bombings against Israeli civilians as morally repugnant.
International: President of the United States
George W. Bush
condemned the attack and called on Yasser Arafat
to do everything in his power to stop what he called "terrorist killing".
Shimon Peres
noted that "… the details of every peace plan must be discussed directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and to make this possible, the Palestinian Authority must put an end to terror, the horrifying expression of which we witnessed just last night in Netanya."
Following the passover massacre attack the Israeli government declared a state of emergency, ordered the immediate recruitment of 20,000 reservists in an emergency call-up, and in the following day launched the large-scale counter-terrorism
operation Operation Defensive Shield
in the West Bank
while took place between 29 March and 10 May.
Qeis Adwan, head of the suicide bombing network responsible for the massacre
, was killed by IDF forces on April 5, 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield, after the IDF and the Yamam
caught him in Tubas
, some 70 kilometers north of Jerusalem. An armored IDF Caterpillar D9
bulldozer toppled the house where he was hiding, after he was given a chance to surrender and refused.
Muhannad Taher, who was the maker of the explosive device, was killed in clashes with Squadron 13 fighters in June 2003.
mall. He received 35 life sentences for each murder victim and additional time for those who were wounded.
On March 26, 2008 Hamas commander Omar Jabar, who was suspected of organizing the passover massacre bombing, was arrested in Tulkarem.
In September 2009, Muhammad Harwish, a senior Hamas
militant and one of the planners of the bombing, was arrested by the Border Police's elite Yamam
counter-terror squad in his home village along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara.
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
at the Park Hotel in Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
on March 27, 2002, during a Passover seder
Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...
. Thirty civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured. It was the deadliest attack against Israelis during the Second Intifada.
The attack
During the Jewish holiday of PassoverPassover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
in 2002, the "Park" Hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya
Netanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...
held its traditional annual Passover seder
Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...
(festive religious meal) for its 250 guests, in the hotel dining room located at the ground floor of the hotel. During this holiday the hotel consisted many elderly Jews who didn't have family and relatives in Israel.
In the evening of March 27, 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as a woman approached the hotel carrying a suitcase which contained powerful explosives. The suicide bomber managed to pass the security guard at the entrance to a hotel, then he walked through the lobby passing the reception desk and entered the hotel's crowded dining room
Dining room
A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level...
. At 19:30 pm (GMT
Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Mean Time is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It is arguably the same as Coordinated Universal Time and when this is viewed as a time zone the name Greenwich Mean Time is especially used by bodies connected with the United...
+2) the suicide bomber detonated the explosive device he was carrying. The force of the explosion instantly killed 28 civilians and injured about 140 people, of whom 20 were injured severely. Two of the injured later died from their wounds. Some of the victims were Holocaust survivors. Most of the victims were senior citizens (70 and over). The oldest victim was 90 and the youngest was 20 years old. A number of married couples were killed, as well as a father together with his daughter. One of the victims was a Jewish tourist from Sweden who was visiting Israel for Passover.
Victims
Abramovitch family
Britvich family
Fried family
Karim family
|
Korman family
Vider family
Weiss family
Yakobovitch family
|
Additional victims
|
The perpetrators
HamasHamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber was identified as Abdel-Basset Odeh, a 25-year-old from the nearby West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
city of Tulkarm
Tulkarm
Tulkarem or Tulkarm is a Palestinian city in the northern Samarian mountain range in the Tulkarm Governorate in the extreme northwestern West Bank adjacent to the Netanya and Haifa districts to the west, the Nablus and Jenin Districts to the east...
. Hamas claimed that the attack was specifically designed to derail momentum from a recently announced peace initiative
Arab Peace Initiative
The Beirut Summit was a meeting of the Arab League in Beirut, Lebanon in March 2002 to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The meeting became especially noteworthy for the adoption, by the Arab states attending, of a proposal offering a comprehensive peace between the Arab countries and...
of the Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
n government at the Beirut Summit.
Official reactions
Involved parties Israel:
- Israeli government spokesman Gideon Meir related to the attack saying "what we had tonight was a Passover massacre" and added "There is no limit to Palestinian barbarism."
Palestinian territories:
- Palestinian National AuthorityPalestinian National AuthorityThe Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
: Palestinian Authority officials "strongly condemned" the attack. - During a television broadcast on the Palestinian TV channel, the Palestinians leader Yasser ArafatYasser ArafatMohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
praised the Palestinian people for the current popular uprising against Israel, but stressed that "We are against killing civilians on both sides".
Supranational: Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, United Nations Secretary General stated that he condemned suicide bombings against Israeli civilians as morally repugnant.
International: President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
condemned the attack and called on Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
to do everything in his power to stop what he called "terrorist killing".
Aftermath
In his response to the Saudi initiative adopted at the Beirut Summit, Foreign Affairs Minister of IsraelForeign Affairs Minister of Israel
The Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The position is one of the most important in the Israeli cabinet after Prime Minister and Defense Minister...
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
noted that "… the details of every peace plan must be discussed directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and to make this possible, the Palestinian Authority must put an end to terror, the horrifying expression of which we witnessed just last night in Netanya."
Israeli retaliation
The attack was perceived in Israel as the high point of a bloody month in which more than 135 Israelis were killed in terror attacks.Following the passover massacre attack the Israeli government declared a state of emergency, ordered the immediate recruitment of 20,000 reservists in an emergency call-up, and in the following day launched the large-scale counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
operation Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield
Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002, during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. The operation was an attempt by the Israeli army to stop the...
in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
while took place between 29 March and 10 May.
Qeis Adwan, head of the suicide bombing network responsible for the massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
, was killed by IDF forces on April 5, 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield, after the IDF and the Yamam
Yamam
The Yamam ) is an elite Border police, not civilian Police counter-terrorism unit in Israel. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids against targets in civilian areas...
caught him in Tubas
Tubas
Tubas or Toubas is a small Palestinian city in the northeastern West Bank, located northeast of Nablus, a few kilometers west of the Jordan River. A city of over 16,000 inhabitants, it serves as the economic and administrative center of the Tubas Governorate. Its urban area consists of 2,271 dunams...
, some 70 kilometers north of Jerusalem. An armored IDF Caterpillar D9
IDF Caterpillar D9
The Israeli Armored CAT D9 — nicknamed Doobi — is a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer that was modified by the Israel Defence Forces, Israeli Military Industries and Israel Aerospace Industries to increase the survivability of the armored bulldozer in hostile environments and enable it...
bulldozer toppled the house where he was hiding, after he was given a chance to surrender and refused.
Muhannad Taher, who was the maker of the explosive device, was killed in clashes with Squadron 13 fighters in June 2003.
Arrests
In May 2002, Israeli forces arrested the mastermind behind the attack, Abbas al-Sayed. On September 22, 2005, al-Sayed was convicted of the Passover attack and also of ordering the May 2001 bombing of a NetanyaNetanya
Netanya is a city in the Northern Centre District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is located north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north.Its of beaches have made the...
mall. He received 35 life sentences for each murder victim and additional time for those who were wounded.
On March 26, 2008 Hamas commander Omar Jabar, who was suspected of organizing the passover massacre bombing, was arrested in Tulkarem.
In September 2009, Muhammad Harwish, a senior Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
militant and one of the planners of the bombing, was arrested by the Border Police's elite Yamam
Yamam
The Yamam ) is an elite Border police, not civilian Police counter-terrorism unit in Israel. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids against targets in civilian areas...
counter-terror squad in his home village along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara.
Palestinian glorification of the suicide bomber
In 2003, the Palestinian Authority sponsored a soccer tournament named the "Tulkarm Shahids Memorial soccer championship tournament of the Shahid Abd Al-Baset Odeh" describing the perpetrator as a "shahid" (Martyr). 71% of Palestinians polled about the tournament said it was a "good thing" that it was named in honor of the bomber.See also
- List of massacres in Israel
- List of terrorist incidents, 2002
- List of Hamas suicide attacks
- Resistance to the Arab Peace Initiative
- Battle of Jenin 2002
- Israeli casualties of war
- Palestinian political violencePalestinian political violencePalestinian political violence refers to acts of violence undertaken to further the Palestinian cause. These political objectives include self-determination in and sovereignty over Palestine, the liberation of Palestine and establishment of a Palestinian state, either in place of both Israel and...
External links
- Passover suicide bombing at Park Hotel in Netanya - 27-Mar-2002 - published at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- "Alleged Passover massacre plotter arrested", CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, March 26, 2008. - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/03/29/wmid229.xml"Hotel blast survivors relive the Passover massacre" The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
29/03/2002] - US President George W Bush "This cold blooded killing must stop", 27 March, 2002
- Israeli Government spokesman Gideon Meir "Palestinian violence knows no boundaries", 27 March, 2002