Attack on Egged bus in Jerusalem --not reported!

I received this from a reliable source, who knows the person who wrote it:

8 June 2006
Jerusalem


To the Egged
Bus Company
Israel

Fax
03-9142237

Dear Friends,

I am writing to
commend and praise, with all my heart, the outstandingly brave and resourceful
behavior of the driver of the #1 Jerusalem bus that was attacked in East
Jerusalem en route to the Kotel yesterday evening at Apx 6:50 pm, 7 June, 2006.
This driver acted in an extremely selfless way to protect the passengers of his
bus, and risked his life to make sure all of us got to safety. He succeeded, but
was injured and I wish him a speedy recovery in every respect. I wish I could
thank him personally, but I hope you’ll at least convey this letter to
him.

My family and I immigrated to Israel from New York in
1979 and have lived in Jerusalem ever since. My oldest son served in the IDF,
and all my children are grown. My husband passed away I six years ago, and I now
travel to the Kotel by bus every afternoon. As fairly usual for me, I boarded
the #1 bus at apx 6:35 pm at the last stop in Geulah before it crosses over
Kikar Shabbath into Meah Shaarim. It was an accordion bus, and almost filled to
seating capacity. There were only about three seats available, and I took the
one directly in back of the back door.

As usual on this bus,
the men were seated in the front section, the women and children in the back.
The woman sitting next to me at the window got off at the Shivtei Yisrael
station, so I moved to sit next to the window.

At the
entrance to East Jerusalem, just before the first traffic circle, the middle
section of the bus scraped a stone block lining the street on the driver’s side.
It took about five minutes to get free. I was worried about getting to the kotel
in time for mincha, so I considered getting off the bus and walking up to Shaar
Yaffa. But it seemed dangerous to get off the bus so close to Shaar Shechem, so
I waited.

The driver managed to back up and steered clear of
the obstacle. After we passed through East Jerusalem, we made the right turn
onto the highway and began traveling south, around the city wall. I was sitting
near the window so I had a perfect view of what then happened. It was now about
6:50 pm and a tractor pulling a wooden wagon was being driven in the lane to our
right. Our driver passed him carefully and at a normal, safe passing speed, when
suddenly the tractor speeded up and I was shocked – I had never seen these types
of vehicles travel so fast.

Then I realized that the driver
of the tractor was doing something extremely dangerous and illegal. He was
trying to pass our bus in the right lane. He sped up to the point where the
wagon he was pulling began to veer and rattle – it looked like might tip over or
crash into the side of the bus – exactly where I was sitting. I thought to
myself, “What’s this tractor driver doing? Committing
suicide?”

There was a scraping sound and the bus stopped. So
did the tractor. Right next to my window. I saw the driver of the tractor and he
looked as if he might attack the bus, so I stood up and pulled away from the
window and the door. I stood in the aisle, away from the window, and watched. I
saw a man approach him with wallet filled with papers which was then flung into
the air, money and papers scattered. The women near me began shrieking, as a man
was hurled against the rock wall at the western side of the road. There was more
fighting but I didn’t watch.

Instead, I went to the front of
the bus. There was general hysteria and shock, and people didn’t know what to
do. Nobody had weapons. The driver’s seat was empty, the bus stopped, and it was
only then that I realized that it might be our bus driver being attacked out
there and that other attackers might try to get onto the bus (the door was
open), so I stood in the front, ready to try to stop anyone I
could.

The driver returned, covered with blood and
disoriented, in shock. The tractor driver tried to get on the bus but the driver
slammed the door just in time – it was a miracle. Several people had already
called the police, and the attacker left. We didn’t see where he went, but I was
afraid he might have gone to get more people. The bus door was opened again,
because some of the passengers told the driver they wanted to walk. Three
passengers (two men and a woman) got off the bus. I decided to go with them,
because it seemed we were trapped and my one thought was not to be on a bus like
a sitting target, if there was a bomb or any other violence.


We had walked about 100 meters when the bus started driving again, and the bus
driver stopped to pick us up. That was to his credit, because he probably saved
our lives. Meanwhile, the driver of the tractor caught up to the bus in his
tractor, passed us, and drove his vehicle across the road, stopping it in the
middle of the road, blocking traffic both directions.

I saw
a man walking outside the driver’s side of the bus, walking from the back toward
the front of the bus, calmly carrying a rock about the size of a soccer ball. He
approached the front of the bus, where the driver sat. We yelled to the driver
to watch out, but the man carrying the rock used it like a hammer until the
driver’s window smashed. Then the attacker walked to the front windshield and
hammered the same rock into the windshield, smashing it as well. Fortunately, it
was shatter proof glass. But he didn’t throw the rock, he used it like a sledge
hammer and broke the window in several places.

We were
stopped, no one on the bus had any weapons, and we were trapped. No soldiers or
police were anywhere to be seen. Another person and myself stood next to the
driver and I just said, “Sa.!” (“Drive!”) The driver was weak and said that his
head was injured. “Paga li b’rosh” he told me, reluctant to start the engine. I
saw the blood soaking his shirt and he was struggling to stay conscious, but I
knew we were in danger anyway. So I told him “Sa. Sa l’kotel.” He somehow got
the bus around the tractor and then drove. Perfectly.

Blood
covered him, but he just kept driving and we kept encouraging him, telling him
“Sa!” I don’t know how he did what he did. But he is a very brave person, and a
credit to Eged and to Israel. To all of us, he will always be a hero. I hope
that he is protected in the future, and never is harmed
again.

If it’s necessary to stand as a witness for him, I
will be glad to.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen heroism
by Eged drivers. They are very special people, all of them, and I wish every Jew
in the world would appreciate what they are doing for Am Yisroel! They are
heroes in this day to day war, and I respect them as such. After all, we get on
the bus and get off again. They are risking their lives many hours every day,
every working day of the week.

So I’m writing to tell Egged
that your driver has my admiration, and I’m sure the admiration of all the many
people, unarmed men, women, and children, who filled the bus that day. My
heartfelt best wishes to him, and to all Eged drivers. Be strong!
לא לפחד כלל !

Please let me know if I can be of any help if the case is
brought to trial. Everything I’ve written here I will say.


Sincerely,

ps, I signed and e-mailed the above letter to Eged
with my name, mispar zehut, and telephone number, e-mail. But for your purposed,
please withhold all personal information. Also, I added a few details in this
version that were not in the original version.