Avivim school bus bombing explained

Avivim school bus bombing
Partof:the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon
Location:Near Avivim, northern Israel
Target:Israeli school bus
Coordinates:33.0619°N 35.4233°W
Type:Ambush
Fatalities:12 civilians (including 9 children)
Injuries:25
Perp:PFLP-GC
Weapons:Rocket propelled grenades, gunfire

The Avivim school bus bombing was a terrorist attack on an Israeli school bus on 22 May 1970, in which 12 civilians were killed, nine of them children, and 25 were wounded, one of whom died of a wound sustained in the attack 44 years later. The attack took place on the road to Moshav Avivim, near Israel's border with Lebanon. Two rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were fired at the bus.[1] The attack was one of the first carried out by the PFLP-GC.[2]

Attack

Early in the morning, the bus departed from Avivim heading with its passengers to two local schools. This route had been scouted by the terrorists, believed to have infiltrated from Lebanon, and an ambush was set up. As the bus passed by, ten minutes after leaving Avivim, it was attacked by heavy gunfire from both sides of the road. The driver was among those hit in the initial barrage,[3] as were the two other adults on board. The three were killed as the bus crashed into an embankment as the attackers continued firing into the vehicle.

The attackers were never apprehended.

Fatalities

The children, who were in first to third grade, were buried in a special plot in Safed. A monument commemorating the victims of the attack stands in the middle of the moshav.[4]

  • Ester Avikezer, 23[5]
  • Yehuda Ohayon, 10[6]
  • Yafa Batito, 8[7]
  • Mimon Biton, 7[8]
  • Haviva Biton, 7[9]
  • Hanna Biton, 8[10]
  • Shimon Biton, 9[11]
  • Shulamit Biton, 9[12]
  • Makhlouf Biton, 28[13]
  • Aliza Peretz, 14[14]
  • Rami Yarkoni, 29[15]
  • Shimon Azran, 35[16]

Leah Revivo, who survived the attack at age nine, died in 2014 at age 52 from an infection brought on by a piece of shrapnel lodged in her brain as a result of the attack.[17]

Aftermath

Israel retaliated for the massacre by shelling four Lebanese villages, killing 20 people, injuring 40, and spurring thousands of southern Lebanon's residents to flee north.[18] [19] This in turn provided one of the claimed motivations for the Dawson's Field hijackings of 6 September 1970.[19] The IDF also began patrolling regularly inside southern Lebanon after the massacre.[18]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Moshav Avivim still stands determined during tensions. The Jerusalem Post – JPost.com. 7 July 2010 . 16 December 2014.
  2. Book: PLO Strategy and Politics. 9780709929017. 16 December 2014. Yodfat. Aryeh. Arnon-Oḥanah. Yuval. 1981. Croom Helm .
  3. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woisra264829490jul26,0,5754659.story As history repeats
  4. http://www.ezy.co.il/memoSite_eng.asp?memorial_id=87 A People Remember Moshav Center
  5. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - אסתר אביקזר ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141051/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37734&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  6. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - יהודה אוחיון ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141219/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37736&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  7. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - יפה בטיטו ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141231/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37733&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  8. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - מימון ביטון ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141244/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37730&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  9. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - חביבה ביטון ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141305/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35220&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  10. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - חנה ביטון ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721141319/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35299&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  11. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - שמעון ביטון ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721142213/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35320&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  12. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - שולמית ביטון ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721142854/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35225&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  13. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - מכלוף ביטון ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721142909/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37732&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  14. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - עליזה פרץ ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721142931/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=37731&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  15. Web site: אזרחים חללי פעולות איבה - חיפוש לפי שם, אירוע או מקום מגורים - רמי ירקוני גרינר ז"ל. 16 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721142945/http://laad.btl.gov.il/show_item.asp?itemId=35219&levelId=28553&itemType=10&template=3. 21 July 2011. dead.
  16. Web site: נזכור את כולם. https://archive.today/20120805155834/http://www.izkor.gov.il/izkor82.asp?t=92606. dead. 5 August 2012. 16 December 2014.
  17. Web site: Israeli Mom Dies of Shrapnel Infection from 1970 School Bus Massacre.
  18. Book: Righteous Victims. 9780307788054. 16 December 2014. Morris. Benny. 25 May 2011. Knopf Doubleday Publishing .
  19. Book: Understanding Terrorist Innovation. 9780415423519. 16 December 2014. Dolnik. Adam. 2007. Routledge .

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