By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Jul 12, 2005
Opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ?disengagement? plan Tuesday accused the government of planting a fake bomb at Jerusalem's central bus station with the intent of inciting public opinion against their movement.
On Monday evening, security officials discovered a gas cannister rigged with wires and a clock in one of the bus station's washrooms. A letter reading ?the disengagement will blow up in your faces? was found alongside the device.
The bus station was temporarily evacuated under an atmosphere of panic.
The Israeli and international medias immediately pointed a finger of blame at the Jewish settlers slated for evacuation under Sharon's plan and their supporters throughout the country.
Left-wing Interior Minister Ofer Pinas-Paz (Labor) took the opportunity to brand anti-pullout activists as ?terrorists? over the incident.
But those presumed to be behind the fake bomb pointed out for Arutz 7 Tuesday that the Jerusalem central bus station is heavily guarded, making the smuggling of a large gas cannister into the facility next to impossible without the cooperation of security agents.
Jewish settlers and Israelis supportive of their nation's continued control over the biblical lands of Judea, Samaria and Gaza say the Sharon government has been conducting a campaign of de-legitimization against them in order to secure public backing for withdrawal.