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Passover Massacre
NETANYA, Israel  A suicide bomber walked into a crowded hotel dining room in this Israeli coastal resort town Wednesday night and blew himself up as guests sat down to celebrate the start of the Jewish Passover holiday.
Police said at least 19 people were killed, and more than 120 wounded in one of the worst terror attacks in 18 months of escalated hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Islamic military group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera, identifying the bomber as Abdel Baset Odeh, from the West Bank town of Tulkarem. The 25-year-old Palestinian had worked in Netanya hotels in the past.
The explosion at the Park Hotel was large enough to cause major structural damage, hampering the efforts of emergency crews.
The blast came as guests prepared to participate in a Passover Seder  the ritual meal that ushers in the eight-day holiday that commemorates the Jews' deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Many hotels cater Seders in their dining halls.
A local police chief, Aharon Franko, said the bomber entered the hotel, crossed the crowded lobby and reached the dining hall, where he blew himself up.
The explosion tore through the ground floor of the hotel, blowing out walls and overturning tables and chairs. Bits of rubble and wires dangled from the ceiling.
In the chaos, one table remained standing, covered by a white cloth and with the elaborate Seder place settings still in place.
"Suddenly it was hell," said one of the guests, Nechama Donenhirsch, 52. "There was the smell of smoke and dust in my mouth and a ringing in my ears."
Donenhirsch said that as she and her family fled, they saw a little girl, about 10 to 12 years old, lying dead on the ground, her eyes wide open as if in surprise.
Some of the wounded were seen staggering out of the lobby of the hotel, which was plunged into darkness by the explosion. One man was covered by a blue blanket and had blood dripping from his face, said witness Joel Leyden.
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The Aftermath
Leyden said he saw five bodies lined up on the sidewalk outside the hotel, including a woman dressed in her holiday best.
Israel quickly placed the blame on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat prior to Hamas' claim of responsibility.
"Arafat is to blame for the violence that emanates from the territories under his control," said David Baker, a government spokesman.
"It is clear the Palestinians are bent on using everything at their disposal for killing and maiming as many Israelis as possible anywhere, anytime."
It was not immediately clear how the latest terror attack would affect U.S.-sponsored efforts to negotiate a truce between the Israelis and Palestinians.
The bombing came just hours after Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah presented a new peace initiative at the Arab summit in Beirut, offering Israel normal relations with the Arab world in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.
Arafat, who remains confined to the West Bank by Israel, embraced the initiative in a televised speech, and said he hoped it would be adopted by the summit.
Israeli officials responded guardedly, saying the Saudi plan was too vague and somewhat weakened the idea of "normalization" initially floated by Abdullah. The prince's last-minute addition †a demand that Israel recognize the right of return of Palestinian refugees is "totally unacceptable," said Danny Ayalon, a Sharon adviser.
U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni has been working on a truce for the past two weeks, but the talks have been punctuated with violence.
Israel has said repeatedly it could not tolerate more attacks on its civilians. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his security Cabinet to discuss possible options in the event the truce mission fails. One idea raised was a large-scale military operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
President Bush decried Wednesday's bombing and called upon Arafat to end the "cold-blooded killing" in the Mideast.
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Soccer tournament named for Murderer
A Palestinian soccer tournament has been named after the suicide bomber who killed 29 people and injured 140 last year during a Passover seder, according to the official Palestinian Authority daily Al Hayat Al Jadida.
Hamas member Abed Al-Basset Odeh walked into the dining room of the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya on March 27 and detonated an explosive device amid 250 guests participating in the holiday meal.
The soccer tournament's seven team also have been named after "shahids," or "martyrs," according to a translation of the newspaper
The paper reported today that the "Tulkarm Shahids Memorial soccer championship tournament of the Shahid Abed Al-Basset Odeh began with the participation of seven top teams, named after shahids who gave their lives to redeem the homeland."
Odeh was from the West Bank town of Tulkarm.
The report said that Odeh's brother Isam "will distribute the trophies."
Palestinian Media Watch said the article did not specify whether children or adults are participating in the championship event.
One of the teams in the tournament also bears Odeh's name. The other teams are Raed Carmi, named for the slain Tulkarm Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade commander; Wajdi Al Hatab, for the Palestinian youth who requested cake be distributed after his martyrdom; Tarek Abu Safaka, who killed three Israelis in a Feb. 10, 2002 attack; Tarek Alqato, an Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade operative killed in a clash with Israeli troops; Mahmud Marmash, a suicide bomber who killed five Israelis in a May 2001 attack in Netanya; and Husam Al Hamshari, a youth killed in a clash with Israeli troops.
In a report last year, Palestinian Media Watch said that under the Palestinian Authority, numerous schools, summer camps and sports teams are named for terrorists, and symbols of violence continue to be used in education and sports.
PMW said in an August report that U.S. funds, through USAID, helped renovate the Dalal Al- Mughrabi school, named for the female terrorist who participated in the bus hijacking and murder of 36 Israelis and an American, Gail Rubin, in 1978.
A summer camp was named for Ayyat al-Akhras, a woman who blew herself up in a supermarket in Jerusalem, and another camp honored Jihad al-Amarin, commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, responsible for the murder of numerous Israelis.
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