israelinsider: security: Terrorist gunfire kills two, injures over forty at Jerusalem intersection

Terrorist gunfire kills two, injures over forty at Jerusalem intersection
By Ellis Shuman November 4, 2001


		11/04 Two dead, 45 wounded in Jerusalem terrorist attack Jerusalem Post 11/04 Gunman kills two on Israeli bus BBC



			French Hill


		Islamic Jihad


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French Hill junction, shortly after the terrorist attack. (Channel 2)


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	Israel Defense Forces

A Palestinian terrorist opened fire on an Egged bus at the busy French Hill intersection in Jerusalem Sunday afternoon. Two Israelis were killed and over forty others, many of them students on their way home from school, were injured in the attack.

Two Border Policemen, a soldier and a civilian shot and killed the gunman. Eyewitnesses reported that one or two Palestinians, possibly connected to the shooter, managed to escape in the direction of the Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina. Police sources later stated, based on video footage of the incident captured on a nearby surveillance camera, that the terrorist acted on his own.

Armed with an M-16 automatic rifle, the Palestinian gunman approached the French Hill intersection just before 4 p.m. Due to the fact that a number of Border Policemen were standing near a crowded bus stop, the terrorist positioned himself across the street.

"We were traveling on Bus No. 25 to Jerusalem," a passenger on the bus told Israel Radio. "Suddenly he shot at us. We saw the terrorist shooting. He kept shooting. He didn't stop."

The two Israelis killed in the attack were Shoshana Ben-Yishai, 16, from Beitar Illit, and Meni Regev, 14, from Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood. Many of the injured were students of the Beit Shulamit School for girls, located in Neve Yaakov, who were on their way home from school.

Border Policemen Eti Rahavi and Eliezer Elah were across the street at the time of the shooting. "I heard a barrage of bullets," Elah said. "I cocked my rifle, crossed the road and went around the bus. I saw the shooter, and went up to within five meters of him. I fired some bullets. As soon as I saw that we had taken him [the terrorist] out, I went to take care of the wounded."

Jerusalem Police Chief Cmdr. Mickey Levy said the terrorist was a 24-year-old member of the Islamic Jihad from the southern Hebron Hills region. A statement issued by the organization identified him as Hatem Yaein al-Shuweiki.

Border Police are stationed at the French Hill intersection 24 hours a day, due to its proximity to Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods and Ramallah. Even so, a number of terrorist attacks have occurred at the site over last few months. Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishky said it was impossible to completely encompass the intersection with policemen. "There are many routes of access," he explained.

Security sources say that the IDF will probably delay its withdrawal from Palestinian-controlled areas outside Ramallah as a result of Sunday's shooting, ynet reported.