Israel celebrates independence under a cloud of fear
JERUSALEM (AFP): Israel celebrated 46 years of statehood yesterday amid tight security and under the shadow of a militant Palestinian terror campaign in revenge for the Hebron massacre.
As warplanes flew over Jerusalem and off the Tel Aviv coast to commemorate the birth of the Jewish state in 1948, police conducted searches in every city of the country to combat a surge of deadly Palestinian attacks.
And families held burials for some of the victims.
The authorities urged all Israelis to be on guard and told bus drivers to inspect their vehicles carefully, a day after five Israelis were killed in the second bombing of a bus inside Israel since last week.
Military reinforcements were sent to the "green line" dividing Israel from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip which have been sealed off since a suicide bombing killed seven Israelis last week.
Both attacks in the northern towns of Afula and Hadera have been claimed by Hamas which is opposed to the peace process.
In a leaflet distributed in the territories Hamas congratulated itself for having turned yesterday's celebrations into "a hell" and warned there would be "three more surprise attacks against Israel" in revenge for the massacre.
Funerals
There was a heavy police presence in Hadera to prevent any clashes occurring during the funeral of one of the five Israelis killed in the attack on Wednesday.
Hadera police chief Yitzhak Gissis told the radio: "We have also advised Israeli Arabs not to enter the town.
A 19-year-old soldier who died in the attack is also due to be buried in the south, while another victim will be laid to rest in Tel Aviv. The funerals of the other two victims are due to be held today.
But despite the killings, the celebrations went ahead to mark the day that the Jewish nation was born following a United Nations resolution and when a British mandate over Palestine expired on May 14, 1948. Israel celebrates the date according to the Hebrew calendar.
Planes, helicopters and parachutists took part in a military fly-over off the coast of Tel Aviv, while a formation of F-16 planes overflew Jerusalem.
Bathers were banned from the beaches around Tel Aviv and in the north close to Lebanon, and all marine traffic was forbidden in those area.
Dances were also organized in several army bases and thousands of Israelis headed for the countryside to hold picnics.
PLO leader Yasser Arafat telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at home during the night to express his "regrets" over the Hadera bombing, and to present his condolences to the victims' families.
The two leaders discussed the peace process and pledged to exert "real and sincere efforts to overcome the remaining obstacles" to self-rule starting in Gaza and Jericho, said an official in the premier's office.
The Hadera attack was carried out by a 22-year-old Palestinian, Ammar Saleh Amarna, from the village of Yabad in the West Bank, residents of his home village said yesterday.
The Afula bombing was also carried out by a 19-year-old from the West Bank.
The attacks came almost two months after a Jewish settler shot dead 30 Palestinians praying at a mosque in the West Bank town of Hebron on Feb. 25.