Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Terror tears at the hearts of parents of all faiths in Israel

Friday, March 14, 2003 | 2:55 a.m.

ASHDOD, Israel -- Just another day at school for the children of Israel and the United States. This thought ran through my mind as I watched local youngsters with their backpacks climb aboard a bus. As the bus pulled away from the curb, I saw a mother, waving goodbye to a child on the bus. Was she thinking about what she would be preparing for the evening meal or was her mind clouded with the fear this would be the last time she would see her child alive? Would she be hearing the sirens of ambulances and be called to identify her child's body or would the rescue workers find only a bloody and tattered backpack and sneakers? Too often this scene has been repeated in Israel during the past few years.

The terrible toll taken by bomb- toting killers is made worse because the very innocent young and old suffer and die. The killer could not care less, he seeks out a bus that is full so his explosive filled with nails and sharp pieces of metal can cause the greatest amount of death and pain possible. The Palestinian killer doesn't care if he also includes other Arabs and Muslims among his victims. Just kill as many as possible and make dozens more lie in hospital beds suffering from wounds and burns. That's his goal as he detonates the bomb.

Among the 16 people killed on No. 37 bus in Haifa last week was Kamar Abu Hamed, 13, who was on her way home from school. The Druse girl was laid to rest with the prayers of imams in a quiet religious service.

Kamar wasn't shooting a gun, throwing stones or grenades, she was only guilty of wanting and seeking an education. A councilman from Daliat al-Carmel was quoted saying, "Her only crime was to have taken her school bag and gone to study in Haifa." The Jerusalem Post newspaper reporter Matthew Gutman wrote the words of Education Minister Limor Livnat, who eulogized Kamar. "Terrorists do not differentiate between humans. Murderers love simply to murder. Druse and Jews are brothers both in blood and in life," the minister said.

The Haaretz newspaper told the story of other Haifa bus victims that included Mariam Mustafa Attar, who was the youngest child of a Muslim family from Hadar Carmel. Mariam, 27, left behind her mother, a pensioner, three brothers and seven sisters.

Then there was Abigail Leitel, 14, of Haifa. Haaretz tells readers she was, "an American citizen on her way to a friend's house from school. The Leitel family came to Israel from New Hampshire 14 years ago, when Abigail was 7 months old. The Leitel family came to Haifa so her father, Philip, could study at the Technion. Later, after he was appointed the representative of the Baptist Church in Israel, they decided to stay in Haifa."

The story of Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, sounds all too familiar. The youngster was on his phone speaking to his father when the bomber struck. Yuval's last words were, "I love you, Dad."

Suicide bombers kill and maim Jews, Druse, Christians and Muslims without even a twinge of conscience. They have the same mentality of the plane hijackers who killed Americans in the Twin Towers, Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field on 9-11-2001. The killed and wounded were men and women who went to work that day without hate or intent to harm any person. They, like bus riders in Israel, were killed only because of where they were and not because of anything they had done.

The next time you must stop your car so children can get off or on a school bus, be happy for those young Nevadans. Yes, and watch that mother or father wave goodbye to a child they know is safe and will be home for dinner. Thousands of happy scenes like this take place in Southern Nevada five days a week and 12 months a year.

Today is a school day in Israel and I can hear the wail of ambulance sirens and my thoughts turn to the children and their parents. How many hearts have skipped a beat as parents reach for a cell phone to contact the school and their children? Many more scramble to be at the bus stop where their children should soon arrive. What will greet them?

Everything may be OK today. But what about tomorrow when this cycle of life and death starts all over again?