Prominent Palestinians condemn bombings

Palestinians have carried out 71 suicide bombings in the past 21 months

By Jamie Tarabay, The Associated Press

Prominent Palestinians condemn bombings — The Grand Island Independent, 20 June 2002 — The Grand Island Independent · 20 June 2002

Send this clipping to somebody

Transcribed from the clipping

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — More than 50 Palestinians took out a full-page newspaper ad Wednesday condemning suicide bombings, a move that sparked debate at a time when most Palestinians support the attacks as an effective way to hit Israel.

The ad in Al Quds, a leading Palestinian daily, appeared Wednesday morning — a day after a suicide bombing killed 19 people on a Jerusalem bus, and hours before another suicide attack killed seven more people at a bus stop in the evening.

In the ad, the Palestinians urged the militant groups behind deadly assaults on Israeli civilians to “stop sending our young people to carry out such attacks.” “We see no results in such attacks, but a deepening of the hatred between both peoples and a deepening of the gap between us,” the ad said.

The signatories included Hanan Ashrawi, a leading Palestinian spokeswoman and a legislator, and the Palestinians’ senior Jerusalem official, Sari Nusseibeh, along with other prominent figures regarded as moderates. The ad urged other Palestinians to join them in their opposition to the bombings.

Among the others who signed the statement were noted Gaza human rights activist and psychiatrist Iyad Serraj, newspaper editor Hana Siniora, prominent economist Mohammed Ishtaya, Yasser Arafat’s security adviser Mamdouh Nofal and Abdel Khader Husseini, son of the late Faisal Husseini, who was Nusseibeh’s predecessor as top Palestinian official in Jerusalem.

“We felt we had to chart a course, not just break the silence,” Ashrawi said. “We wanted to create a momentum to get people to think with their minds and to reason, instead of always reacting emotionally and out of revenge and pain and trauma.”

With the latest attacks, Palestinians have carried out 71 suicide bombings in the past 21 months of Mideast fighting, killing about 250 people on the Israeli side.

How this transcription was made

Full article transcribed; it is short enough to run complete. Nothing graphic in this piece, so nothing was summarized. A pull quote set in large type beside the first column repeats the advertisement's words verbatim ("We see no results in such attacks, but a deepening of the hatred between both peoples and a deepening of the gap between us." attributed "— newspaper ad"); it is display furniture, not a separate deck, and is not counted as dek. — No masthead on this clipping — the crop begins at the headline. Same page family as s084_1 (page 4-A) by subject, typography and date; see the pub_note on the s084_1 record for the indirect Grand Island, Nebraska corroboration. Label-carried, not masthead-verified. — No date line on the clipping. The body places the newspaper advertisement "Wednesday morning — a day after a suicide bombing killed 19 people on a Jerusalem bus, and hours before another suicide attack killed seven more people at a bus stop in the evening," which puts publication on or after Thursday June 20, 2002. Consistent with Maria's label.

Cite this clipping

"Prominent Palestinians condemn bombings," The Grand Island Independent, 20 June 2002. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2002-134. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2002-134