The terror that touches us all

Three weeks ago, a bomb was detonated at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, killing nine people and injuring more than 80. This horrific attack symbolizes much more than just an unfortunate loss of innocent lives. As students, we should all be speaking out against the targeting of innocent civilians. Most of us feel safe sitting through lecture in Kane 130, grabbing a latte at Balmer Cafe or eating lunch in the HUB. This simple daily routine proved deadly for nine innocent civilians going about their own business.

This attack is ironic in that it took place at the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria, funded by and named after the famous singer. This happens to be in Nancy Reagan Square and within the vicinity of the Harry S Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace. Ol' Blue Eyes must be rolling in his grave.

Irony aside, this terrorist attack was unique in several ways: The bomb was detonated from a remote location, the attack took place at a university and the victims included a mixture of Jews and Arabs, as well as five Americans.

The first unique aspect of this attack is the manner in which the attack took place. Most terrorist attacks seen over the past two years have involved homicide bombers strapping bombs to their waists and detonating themselves. Other attacks have involved ambushes of homes or cars. This attack, however, was detonated from a remote location via a cellular phone. How often do you walk through the Quad and see a fellow student on his or her cell phone? None of us would ever think that this phone call could detonate a remote bomb.

This new "technology" -- if you want to call it that -- poses a threat to the whole world. If homicide bombing is seen as a success in the Arab-Israeli conflict, then I foresee an increase in these types of attacks throughout the world.

The second unique aspect to this terror attack is the place involved and the message it sends to the world. Hebrew University is a unique place where Jews and Arabs, regardless of political views, are friends, study partners and co-workers. Josh Jacobs, a UW graduate who studied at Hebrew University two years ago, described the school as a place with an open forum for different-minded people to exchange ideas and communicate freely with each other. Jacobs believes that it was not only the University that was attacked, but also "the sacred bond between Jews and Arabs."

Hebrew University is home to 23,000 full-time students, 5,000 of whom are Arabs. 1,500 come from overseas, although this ratio continues to drop as the region destabilizes. The masterminds behind this attack had to know of these demographics, and had to be aware of the possibility of killing non-Israelis.

This leads to the third unique aspect of this attack: 5 of the dead were American citizens. While Americans have been among the victims of Palestinian terror attacks in the past, this was the most killed at any one time. Two days after the terror attack, President Bush vowed to track down those responsible for the bombing at Hebrew University, with the cooperation of Arab governments. Good luck to that, considering Arafat condemns terror one minute but praises martyrs the next.

I would not expect Bush to get much help from any other Arab leader, either, considering I have never heard any of them condemn terrorist attacks on civilians.

Suspected terrorists involved in this attack must be found and brought to justice, as was the case in the bombings of the U.S. embassy in Kenya and Tanzania. The mastermind behind the kidnapping and murder of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was brought to justice in Pakistan. Now it is time for President Bush to extradite the Hamas leaders responsible for this attack.

Many of us feel places of education are a safe haven from the rest of the world. College is that final hurrah before entering the workforce and the real world per se. When a college institution is attacked, our comfort zone is attacked ... even though the bomb exploded more than 6,000 miles away.

When thinking about the constant terrorism that Israel suffers on a daily basis, we students should refer back to this terrorist attack. "This atrocity was not just about killing the Jews," said Richard Joel, international director of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. "It was about killing the lyric poetry of ideas -- everything a university is supposed to represent."

Jacobs believes that the attack was not in the name of the Palestinian cause, but in the name of destroying peace.

The attack touches home for the fellow UW students who have attended Hebrew University and met friends for lunch in the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria. This attack has even touched people that I know, friends of one of the five innocent American victims of this horrific terrorist attack. When other students are struck by terror at their university, we at the UW should condemn these acts of terrorism that touch us all.