Bombed Jerusalem Bus To Be Displayed in Berkeley
Source: kcbs
Publication date: 2004-08-23
(KCBS) - The wreckage of a Jerusalem bus destroyed during a suicide bombing in Israel this year has been scheduled to come to Berkeley later this year, angering some Bay Area Palestinian rights groups.
Suzanne DeWitt, chairman of the Israel Action Committee of the East Bay told KCBS she wants to bring the number 19 bus to the Bay Area so that people can see for themselves the effects of terrorism.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosive on the bus on Jan. 29 of this year.
''There were 10 victims who died and 50 victims who were injured seriously,'' said DeWitt.
She insists displaying the bus is not designed as a criticism of Palestinian people or the religion of Islam.
A conservative Christian group called Christians for Israel and an Orthodox Jewish organization known as ZAKA have sponsored the nation-wide tour of the bus wreckage.
Ramiz Rafeedi, an attorney who sits on the board of the Bay Area chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, characterized the bus display in terms of the controversial security barrier Israel is constructing in the West Bank.
''It's a desperate PR campaign used by the Israeli lobby,'' Rafeedi said, ''to deflect attention from the growing and mounting international criticism that the Israelis are facing as a result of the wall they're building in the West Bank.''
The Jerusalem 19 bus is scheduled to arrive in Berkeley next year on January 29, the one-year anniversary of the bombing.
(10:46am, jro)
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/kcbs/news/news_story.nsp?story_id=55905517&ID=kcbs&scategory=Computers
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