Last update - 00:00 15/03/2007
Families of T.A. bombing victims demand probe into 2006 attack
By Haaretz Service
Families of the victims of the April 2006 bombing at a Tel Aviv falafel stand are planning to petition the High Court of Justice and demand the establishment of an independent investigation committee to probe a prisoner's claims that he had forewarned the authorities about the attack, Army Radio reported Thursday.
The families maintain that the prisoner gave the Israel Prisons Service pertinent information prior to the bombing, but the authorities did not heed the man's warning.
The Israel Prisons Service conducted an internal investigation on the matter which lasted a mere five hours. The IPS concluded that the prisoner's information had been general and that he had never mentioned the name of the attacker. The police, however, say the man is very reliable and has been helpful on many occasions.
On Wednesday, the families met with Public Security Minister Avi Dicther and demanded the establishment of an investigation committee without IPS representation. Attorney Zekharia Shinkovlovski, the uncle of one of the victims, sent a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and to Dichter also demanding the prisoner's claims be investigated.
Army Radio reported earlier this week that the Arab Israeli prisoner warned the authorities several days before the attack, which killed eleven Israelis last year. The prisoner claims that he told IPS the name of the attacker and the area in which the attack would take place, but the attack was carried out nonetheless.