Suicide bomb masterminds jailed for life

Two Palestinians convicted of masterminding a series of suicide bombings against Israeli targets were sentenced to 36 consecutive life terms by an Israeli military court today.

Mohammed Hassan Arman and Walid Anjas were jailed for their role in the 2002 bombings in Jerusalem and Rishon Le Zion, south of Tel Aviv, in which 35 people died.

The attacks also wounded 205 people. Military courts typically add one life sentence for large numbers of non-fatal casualties.

Arman and Anjas refused to express remorse for their actions.

“We are people who want to be free of the Israeli occupation,” Arman said. “We have nothing to regret.”

Military prosecutors alleged the two were part of a group of Hamas militants based in the village of Silwan, north of Jerusalem.

They were convicted in August of planning the bombings of the Moment Café in Jerusalem in which 11 died; the Sheffield Club in Rishon Le Zion in which 15 died and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in which nine died, including five Americans.

They were also convicted of attempting to blow up a large fuel dump outside Tel Aviv. That effort failed.

In handing down the sentences, the three-judge panel wrote that Arman and Anjas cared only about themselves.

“The looks on their faces and the smiles of the accused when the prosecutor mentioned the victims cannot leave any doubt about their lack of conscience,” the judges wrote. ”They showed that the lives of other people mean nothing to them.”

In more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence, 436 people have died in 105 suicide bombings, almost all carried out by Palestinians. More than 2,500 Palestinians have also died in the violence.