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Bringing the Bombers of the Kfar Darom School Bus to Justice

A Letter to Arutz Sheva readers from attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Rabbi Ofir Cohen:

Dear Arutz-7 Reader,

On November 20, 2000 an Israeli school bus was blown up outside of KfarDarom by the Palestinian Preventive Security forces. The terror attackkilled two teachers, Miriam Amitai and Gavriel Biton, and grievouslywounded many of the school children. The three young children of Ofirand Noga Cohen, Orit, Yisrael and Tehilla, sustained the most serious ofthese injuries. See Photos. Orit, 12, had part of her leg amputated,Yisrael, 7, had his entire leg removed, and Tehilla, 9, had to have bothher legs removed in life-saving surgery.

The chief suspects in the bus bombing, identified by the Israel’ssecurity service, were then-Preventive Security force chief MohammedDahlan and his deputy Rashid Abu Shabak.

Despite all the horrific terrorist attacks against Israeli civiliansthat the Palestinians have perpetrated during the past three years ofthe current Intifada, the intentional targeting of a children’s schoolbus, right at the beginning of the violence, still stands out as aheinous crime.

Just hours after the bombing, the government of then-Prime Minister EhudBarak, acting on intelligence information, responded to the terrorattack by ordering the Israeli Air Force to strafe Dahlan’s Gazaheadquarters. At a cabinet meeting that evening, then-opposition leaderAriel Sharon openly called for Dahlan’s liquidation. Sharon wasincredulous that the government had not yet ordered Dahlan’sassassination in retaliation for attacking a school bus.

The military correspondent for the Ha’aretz newspaper wrote: “Securitysources said yesterday that Israel obtained ‘hard’ intelligence, priorto the aerial bombardment of Gaza Monday night, that senior figures inFatah and in Mohammed Dahlan’s preventive security apparatus wereresponsible for the bomb attacks against Israelis in the Gaza Strip,including the bomb which struck a school bus at Kfar Darom on Mondaymorning, killing two adult passengers and wounding several children.”Shortly afterwards, the daily newspaper HaTzofeh ran a story claimingthat American intelligence agencies had intercepted a phone call betweenDahlan and Abu Shabak incriminating them in the school bus bombing.Reportedly, the United States had convincing evidence of Dahlan’sinvolvement.

But for some reason, Dahlan and his terrorist deputy were neitherarrested nor killed by Israel for their role in the attack. ApparentlyDahlan, who controls a large militia in Gaza, had been warned by theAmerican intelligence agency of the evidence against him and atransformation occurred. Overnight, the Gaza boss was being portrayedin political circles as a moderate voice and a proponent of peacenegotiations. Last May, Dahlan secretly traveled to Washington to meetwith United States National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice. He soldthe Bush Administration on the idea, that he alone could coax the Hamasinto abandoning terrorist attacks.

Rashid Abu Shabak is reportedly wanted by the security services asanother suspect in the bombing. Dahlan was informed by Israel that if hesucceeds in disarming the terrorist organizations in Gaza, Abu Shabak’sname would be removed from the most-wanted list.

Apparently, the investigation into the Palestinian Authority leadersinvolved in the Kfar Darom bus bombing, and the shocking conclusions itwould draw, has been buried in order to advance the peace negotiations.

One is asked to recall another intentional attack on school childrenfrom an earlier era: On September 15, 1963, on a Sunday morning inBirmingham, Alabama in the midst of the civil-rights struggle, apowerful bomb was thrown by Ku Klux Klan assailants into the basement ofthe all-Black Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. At that moment, Sundayschool was in session. The explosion instantly killed four young schoolchildren ages 11 through 14. Scores of other children were also injured.

Disgracefully, it took the African-American community almost 35 years tofinally force the Federal Bureau Investigation to hunt down the Klanbombers and convict them in court.

We do not want to wait 35 years to bring the Palestinian Authorityofficials who bombed the Kfar Darom school children to justice.

We are launching a worldwide campaign to investigate the bombing of theschool bus on November 20, 2000. We allege that the government ofIsrael will not, as a result of foreign political pressure, take thenecessary steps to arrest and prosecute the obvious suspects - MohammedDahlan and Rashid Abu Shabak. We must not allow a cover-up concerningthe real perpetrators of the Kfar Darom attack to continue, regardlessof whether they are senior Palestinian Authority officials - advancingthe ‘Road Map’ for the United States.

We are calling upon members of the world Jewish community to join us inthis project. We cannot afford to allow anyone to target Jewish schoolchildren with impunity.

Many of you have written and called Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center inrecent months thanking us for our work, and asking if there is indeedsome way you can help Israeli terror victims fight back against thePalestinian terrorist organizations and their leaders.

Today, there is something you can do!

The costs of investigating the bus bombing and a public campaign tobring the perpetrators to justice will not be cheap. Accordingly, weare now turning to Jewish communities around the world to ask for theirsupport in this campaign. By assisting Shurat HaDin - Israel LawCenter, you can ensure that Dahlan and the other terrorists will belegally pursued and eventually brought to justice for the school busbombing.

If you are tired of and frustrated by the murderous attacks that havedevastated Israel during the past few years, and angered by the world’sindifference, we ask you to make a generous contribution to ShuratHaDin’s campaign.

Become a partner in the struggle of the Jewish terror victims who cannotallow this heinous crime to go unpunished. Your tax-deductiblecontributions to Shurat HaDin will expose Dahlan’s role in the busbombing and perhaps save the lives of your brothers and sisters.

For more details, please see our website:http://www.israellawcenter.org/public.shtml