UNITED NATIONS RESPONDS TO TERRORISM IN GAZA

Following Sunday's terrorist attacks in the Gaza Strip in which 8 people were killed and 61 wounded, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gad Yaacobi called upon the international community to cooperate in combatting fundamentalist terrorism.

In a letter today to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Yaacobi wrote that since the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles, 125 Israelis have been killed in 52 separate terrorist attacks, most committed by Islamic fundamentalist organizations which receive Iranian support.

Boutros-Ghali issued a statement today strongly condemning the attacks. The statement marks the first time that the United Nations condemned a terrorist attack against Israelis in the territories.

Both the letter and statement are attached.

The text of Ambassador Yaacobi's letter follows:

I wish to draw your attention to the grave acts of terrorism committed by Palestinian terrorists yesterday, in which seven Israeli citizens and one American citizen were killed and 61 people were wounded. The following are the details of the attacks:

(A) On 9 April 1995, a Palestinian terrorist driving a commercial vehicle loaded with explosives and gas canisters parked in a field along a main highway near Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. There, he waited for an Israeli vehicle to approach. At approximately 11:45 a.m., upon discerning public transportation bus no. 36 from Ashkelon to Kfar Darom, the t errorist pulled alongside the bus and detonated his vehicle.

(B) Eight passengers in the bus were killed, and 52 were wounded, one of whom is listed in critical condition.

(C) Agence France Presse said it received a telephone call approximately two hours after the attack from the fundamentalist organization Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic Jihad also circulated leaflets in the Nusirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, praising the terrorist who committed the attack.

(D) At 1:50 p.m., approximately two hours after the attack near Kfar Darom, a Palestinian driving a Fiat 131 loaded with explosives crashed into an Israeli jeep at the Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip. The jeep was the second vehicle in a five-vehicle convoy.

(E) 9 Israelis were wounded in the attack, including the two individuals riding in the jeep which was struck.

(F) The fundamentalist organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was carried out by one of its members from the Gaza Strip.

Since the signing of the Declaration of Principles with the PLO on 13 September 1993, 125 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in 52 separate attacks, most committed by Islamic fundamentalist organizations which receive support and guidance from like-minded states in the region, especially Iran.

Following yesterday's attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said, "I have no doubt that the objective of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad is to kill Israelis and Palestinians in order to murder the peace.... The Palestinian Authority must prove that it can act against these groups."

These grievous acts of violence demand unequivocal condemnation on the part of the international community. Israel calls upon the parties in the region and the entire international community to cooperate in combatting the terrorist threat posed by groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and their supporters and sponsors.

Israel, for its part, will not be swayed from its commitment to peace.

The text of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's statement follows:

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was deeply shocked by the two attacks on Israeli buses in the Gaza Strip yesterday, 9 April, in which several people were killed and dozens wounded, many of them civilians. He strongly condemns these acts, as well as all other acts of violence, which can only serve to undermine the confidence required to sustain the peace process.

The Secretary-General commends the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization for continuing their negotiations today, in an effort to implement fully the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements.