Israel reacts to another act of terrorism

Israeli Apache helicopters attacked several buildings in Jenin, the West Bank. As was reported, the buildings of the security departments of the Palestinian national administration were the target of the raid, together with houses in which guerrillas allegedly lived. This air raid happened several hours after the explosion of an Israeli bus on Wednesday morning. The act of terrorism was reportedly carried out by a Palestinian suicide bomber, who managed to get into the bus. Eighteen people were killed, and 40 were wounded. The Islamic fundamentalist group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the incident.

At present, Jenin is blocked from all sides. Troops were deployed there after a session of the Israeli security department. It was said to journalists that there were no decisions made to start the military operation in response. However, the number of the military men involved in the operation in Jenin testifies to the fact that this is not going to be the end. The troops will enter other towns and settlements of the West Bank soon.

CIA Director George Teneth is currently in the Mideast, and he is rather an experienced diplomat. He has already managed to convince the Palestinians and Israelis negotiate, but the intifada flared up again and the plans collapsed. Today’s act of terrorism in Israel does nothing to ecourage negotiations. Israel’s actions in response will inevitably result in more civilian victims. History repeats itself over and over again: an act of terrorism, a "special operation," abd civilians die.

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov