36 Years On: Horrific Bus #405 Terror Attack Remembered

On July 6, 1989, a horrific terror attack shook Israel when Abdel Hadi Ghanayem, a 25-year-old Palestinian Islamic Jihad member from Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, forced an Egged bus on Line 405 from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem off a cliff near Kiryat Yearim. The attack, marking the first recorded suicide attack in Israel’s history, claimed 16 lives and left 27 injured, etching a grim milestone in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the First Intifada.

The Attack Unfolds

At approximately 7:00 AM, as the bus navigated the winding Jerusalem Hills near Neve Ilan, Ghanayem, seated among the passengers, suddenly lunged at driver Moshe Alul. Witnesses recounted how he grabbed the steering wheel, wrenching it violently to the right. Despite Alul’s desperate attempts to regain control, Ghanayem pressed his feet against the bus’s dashboard, forcing the vehicle toward a steep ravine. The bus plummeted roughly 100 meters, crashing onto three rocky terraces tens of meters deep. It flipped onto its side and burst into flames, trapping passengers inside. Some were burned alive, while others were thrown from the wreckage. Alul was ejected on the first impact, sustaining severe injuries but surviving.

The passengers, a mix of civilians including workers, students, and families, had no warning of the attack. The bus, a standard intercity model, lacked security measures common today, leaving it vulnerable. The chaos was immediate, with screams and smoke filling the air as survivors struggled to escape the burning wreckage.

Rescue Under Fire

Rescue efforts were swift but fraught with challenges. Students from the nearby Telz Stone yeshiva were among the first on the scene, risking their lives to pull survivors from the debris. Arab residents from Ein Rafa and Ein Naqquba also joined, carrying the injured up the steep slope to the road. Magen David Adom teams arrived soon after, but the rugged terrain forced rescuers to manually transport victims dozens of meters. Air Force helicopters executed a complex operation, airlifting the wounded from the valley to hospitals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The fire, fueled by the bus’s diesel and upholstery, complicated rescue attempts, while the depth of the ravine and scattered wreckage made access treacherous. Among the 16 fatalities were men, women, and young adults, including Miriam Tsarfati Zargari, whose sister, singer Ruhama Raz, later memorialized her in song. The 27 injured suffered burns, fractures, and trauma, with some facing lifelong disabilities.

The Perpetrator and Trial

Ghanayem, who miraculously survived the crash, was identified by survivors and arrested. During his trial, he showed no remorse, a fact that fueled public anger when a 1990 televised report depicted him laughing, eating, and reading in prison under seemingly lenient conditions. Sentenced to 16 life terms, he remained incarcerated until October 2011, when he was released as part of the Shalit prisoner exchange, which freed over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. In a post-release interview, Ghanayem, speaking fluent Hebrew, admitted to planning the attack meticulously, while his son, born a day earlier, expressed pride in his father’s actions, calling it a “heroic operation.” The remarks reignited pain for victims’ families and survivors, who felt justice was undermined.

Aftermath and Systemic Changes

The attack exposed vulnerabilities in public transportation security. To prevent similar incidents, a double safety barrier was installed along the dangerous stretch of road near Kiryat Yearim. Egged introduced metal barriers in some intercity buses to shield drivers from passengers. A directive mandated security personnel to occupy the front two rows of buses to assist drivers in emergencies, a practice later phased out as other security measures evolved.

The attack also catalyzed the formation of ZAKA, a volunteer organization specializing in disaster response and victim identification. The group traces its origins to the Telz Stone volunteers who recovered remains from the Line 405 wreckage, formalizing their mission to provide dignified handling of terror victims.

Two months later, on September 2, 1989, another attack on a Line 405 bus saw an Arab terrorist stab the driver on the same route. The driver, though injured, stopped the bus, and passengers subdued the attacker, highlighting the persistent threat to public transport at the time.

Commemoration and Controversy

A makeshift cairn of charred bus parts was initially erected by rescuers near the site but was removed due to safety concerns and objections from local authorities. After public outcry, a permanent memorial was built without initial approval, later retroactively sanctioned following media pressure. Sixteen trees were planted to honor the victims, and early ceremonies saw high-profile attendance, including Acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres and President Chaim Herzog. However, access to the site remains hazardous due to an unmaintained road, and the memorial has fallen into neglect.

In December 2012, the memorial was stolen by metal thieves, with a suspect from Abu Ghosh linked to its dismantling in Ramallah. The theft, part of a wave of metal scavenging and nationalist-motivated vandalism, prompted the National Insurance Institute to fund a new stone monument, completed in 2013. Despite this, the site remains poorly maintained, a sore point for victims’ families.

Cultural Echoes

The attack left a lasting mark on Israeli culture. Ruhama Raz’s 1991 song “In Place of Farewell,” from her album *In the Heart of a Small Homeland*, was a poignant tribute to her sister, Miriam. The TV series *Heroes* featured a character, Hana Gitelman, whose backstory includes losing her mother and grandmother in the attack, transforming her into a “superhero.” Paul Rabinowitz’s 2020 novella *The Clay Urn* draws directly from the event, with the author, a witness who comforted a survivor, weaving the trauma into his narrative. Eshkol Nevo’s short story “Blue Marks” in *Hungry Heart* also references the attack, reflecting its enduring place in collective memory.

Lingering Pain

Interviews with survivors before the Shalit deal revealed deep trauma, compounded by Ghanayem’s release. A 2005 *Haaretz* report quoted a bereaved mother whose account moved FBI agents to tears. The attack’s brutality, coupled with the terrorist’s lack of remorse, continues to resonate. An online memorial site, hosted by the Yizkor platform, preserves victims’ stories, while the Line 405 disaster association archives press clippings and victim profiles, though the wounded and disabled often receive less recognition.

As Israel marks 36 years since the tragedy, the Line 405 attack remains a stark reminder of the First Intifada’s violence and the ongoing struggle to honor its victims amid a complex and unresolved conflict.