I need to know if an American couple, both doctors, named Richard and
Anne Bernstein from New York were guests at this hotel and if so, what
is their condition?

Dear k314159,

I just called the Israeli Foreign Ministry Emergency and Crisis
Management Center again (011972-2-5303155). The Center maintains two
kinds of lists for the Paradise Resort bombing: one is a list of hotel
guests with some form of connection to Israel, the other is a list of
people killed or insured by the bombing. There is a "Tamara Bernstein"
on the first list, but neither Richard nor Anne Bernstein are on
either of the two lists.

This should definitely be good news. For one, we can say with
certainty that they were not killed in the bombing. This is also
confirmed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry's homepage which states that
a total of 15 people killed in the attack, 12 Kenyans and 3 Israeli
citizens (information currently posted on the homepage:
http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/home.asp). We can also say with
almost certainty that they were not insured in the bombing, since they
were not on the second list cited above. I'm saying "almost certainty"
because the person at the Crisis Management Center told me that their
list might not be 100% complete, in particular for non-Israeli
citizens. (I'm assuming Mr. and Mrs. Bernstein are American citizens.)

However, I just also called the American embassy in Kenya again
(011254-2-537800). They also do not have a complete guest list from
the bombing, but the officer on duty confirmed to me that, "to [their]
knowledge, there are no American citizens who were insured in the
bombing."

The Israeli Crisis Management Center asked me to call back in a week
to check if they have perhaps received more complete lists (I will
post any news as comments to this question), but I hope this answer is
good news for you. I would also appreciate if you could post a short
comment in case you hear from Mr. and Mrs. Bernstein yourself.

Sincerely,
gwagner-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by gwagner-ga on 01 Dec 2002 00:50 PST

sorry, "insured" was indeed meant to be "injured"

k314159...
For what it's worth, my search of Google News turned up
no hits for 'American' casualties or 'Bernstein'.

k314159...
Sorry - meant to include links:

Searches on Google News:

mombasa paradise american
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=mombasa+paradise+american

mombasa paradise Bernstein
http://news.google.com/news?num=50&hl=en&q=mombasa+paradise+Bernstein

Dear k314159,

The American embassy in Kenya (011254-2-537800 [from the US]) couldn't
give me any information ("Call back on Monday."). The Isreali Foreign
Ministry Emergency and Crisis Management Center (011972-2-5303155)
does not give out information on any non-Israeli citizens, but a
representative there confirmed that the only casulties were Kenyan and
Israeli citizens. The official U.S. State Department statement
(http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2002/15555.htm) seems to indicate
the same, so does the official statement of the Kenyan Embassy in the
US (http://kenyaembassy.com/articles/gov_statement27.htm) as well as
the most recent New York Times article
(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/29/international/middleeast/29KENY.html).

I was unable to obtain an actual guest list for the hotel, but your
best bet would be calling the American embassy in Kenya on Monday
(011254-2-537800). They also indicated that they would only give out
information to relatives.

Hope that helps,
gwagner