Militants bomb Gaza school in anti-Western campaign

World news

Monday, April 23, 2007

By Eric Silver in Jerusalem

In the latest in a campaign of attacks on Western and secular targets, masked Muslim gunmen bombed the American International School in the northern Gaza Strip at the weekend, causing damage estimated at more than £100,000.

The explosions destroyed administrative offices and the student cafeteria. The assailants also sprinkled petrol and set fire to a classroom corridor linking the two, but flame-resistant carpets limited the damage.

The bombers, who struck early on Saturday, handcuffed eight unarmed security guards and drove them half a kilometre from the school. The guards said after their release that the masked men claimed to be members of al-Qa'ida. No organisation has admitted responsibility.

The fee-paying school, which teaches in English and Arabic, has 250 pupils, 50 of them on scholarships provided for poor families. Last year unidentified gunmen kidnapped an Australian and a Dutch teacher, who were later released unharmed. Since then all the foreign teachers have left.

Eyad Sarraj, a British-trained psychiatrist who is chairman of the school governors, said yesterday that lessons would resume as usual this morning. "This is a challenge for us," he said. "We have to continue giving our children the education they deserve. We will not be intimidated."

Earlier this month, arsonists attacked a popular cultural centre in the neighbouring town of Beit Hanoun. Others wrecked a Christian bookshop in Gaza City, as well as internet cafes and Roots restaurant, a favoured haunt of middle-class families. No one has been arrested for any of these attacks.

Six weeks after he was seized at gunpoint, there is still no sign of Alan Johnston, the BBC's Gaza correspondent. Last Sunday a group claiming links to al-Qa'ida announced that he had been "executed", but it did not release the promised video of the murder. Senior Palestinian politicians have since said that the journalist is still alive, but they have provided no evidence and his kidnappers have made no known ransom demands. The Foreign Press Association, whose 480 members cover both Israel and the Palestinian territories, is planning a rally at the Erez crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to demand Mr Johnston's immediate release.

After a weekend surge of Israeli-Palestinian violence which killed nine Palestinians, Hamas yesterday called for new attacks on Israeli targets. "The blood of our people is not cheap," Fawzi Barhoum, the Islamic party's spokesman, said. "We are calling on the Palestinian resistance groups to be united in the trench of resistance and to use all possible means to respond to the massacres."

An Israeli spokesman said that most of those killed in the West Bank and Gaza were either wanted militants or young men caught attacking Israeli military and civilian targets. They included Amin Lubadi, a 20-year-old Nablus bomb-maker who has been sought by Israel for three years. But Palestinians reported that one of the dead was Bushra Barghish, a 17-year-old girl shot in the head at home in Jenin during an operation.

Five Qassam rockets were launched from Gaza into southern Israel over the weekend. One hit a house in the border town of Sderot, causing severe damage but no casualties. Israel has banned all Palestinians from entering its territory until after tomorrow's Israeli independence day.

* Avraham Hirschson, Israel's Finance Minister, yesterday suspended himself for three months as the police prepared to recommend charging him with embezzling millions of shekels from a workers' charity he ran before taking office. Detectives also launched an investigation into suspected breaches of election finance regulations against another minister, Avigdor Lieberman, whose Russian immigrant party won 11 seats in last year's parliamentary elections.

Azmi Bishara, an outspoken Arab MP who has been accused of consorting with Israel's enemies, resigned his seat after fleeing the country. Police are investigating serious charges against him, but a court order bars the media from reporting what they are.