page_title: Downtown Triangle (Jerusalem)
section_title: Bombing attacks
hierarchical_section_title: Downtown Triangle (Jerusalem) / Decline and rebirth / Bombing attacks
caption_attribution_description: This shows the building destroyed by the car bombing in Ben Yehuda street at Jerusalem on Feb 22, 1948 during the Palestine War of 1948. This was organised by Hajj Amin al-Husseini's men. 52 Jewish civilians kild and 123 injured. See en:Ben Yehuda Street Bombing
context_page_description: The Downtown Triangle is a central commercial and entertainment district in Western Jerusalem. Measuring 29,000 square metres, the area is bounded by Jaffa Road on the north, King George Street on the west, and Ben Yehuda Street on the southeast. Its vertices are the intersections of Jaffa Road and King George Street, King George and Ben Yehuda Streets, and Ben Yehuda Street and Jaffa Road.
  From the mid-1940s through the 1960s, the Triangle was the commercial and cultural heart of Jerusalem, with many upscale shops and restaurants operated by German-Jewish immigrant businessmen that appealed to an affluent clientele. Following the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 and the expansion of the city away from the downtown core, the commercial viability of the Triangle declined. The area was revitalized by the conversion of Ben Yehuda Street and the interior streets of the Triangle to an open-air pedestrian mall in 1982. Over the next two decades, outdoor cafes and souvenir shops moved in, cementing the reputation of the Triangle as a popular shopping and entertainment venue for tourists and young Israelis.
context_section_description: Due to its centrality and large concentration of visitors and entertainment venues, the Downtown Triangle has been the target of numerous bombing attacks and attempted attacks. On 22 February 1948, three British Army trucks led by an armored car driven by Arab irregulars and British deserters exploded on Ben Yehuda Street, killing 58 Jewish civilians and injuring 140. On 4 July 1975, a refrigerator containing 5 kilograms (11 lb) of explosives detonated in Zion Square, killing 15 and wounding 77. On 24 March 1979, a bomb exploded in a trash can in Zion Square, killing one and wounding 13.
  During the suicide bomber era in the late 1990s, three suicide bombers stationed at different points on Ben Yehuda Street exploded themselves almost simultaneously, causing eight deaths and 277 injuries. A similar "relay" bombing attack took place on 1 December 2001: Police and emergency medical personnel were rushing to the scene of a double suicide bombing attack in the Triangle when a car bomb exploded; 20 died and 150 were wounded. Earlier, in August, a Sbarro restaurant at the corner of Jaffa Road and King George Street, packed with lunchtime customers, was bombed; 15 people died and 90 were wounded.
  In February 2014, in response to lobbying by terror victims groups, the Jerusalem municipality held a ceremony and mounted a memorial plaque at the site of the 1948 bombing on Ben Yehuda Street.
caption: Car bombs explode on Ben Yehuda Street, 22 February 1948
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