In a series of Palestinian attacks on Sunday, at least ten Israelis were killed and scores were injured. A suicide bomber blew up a bus in northern Israel during rush hour Sunday, killing at least 9 people, wounding dozens, Israeli witnesses and officials said.
About three hours later, a Palestinian attacker opened fire just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, sparking a gun battle that left three people dead, including the gunman, who was shot by police. An Israeli security guard was fatally shot after being pulled out of a truck belonging to a communications company, and an Arab bystander was killed in the crossfire, said Israeli government spokesman Danny Seaman. Several people were also hurt.
Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for attacks in Jerusalem and north of Ramallah.
Before Sunday’s attacks Israeli officials had said high-level talks between Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Cabinet ministers could be expected later this week, but it was unclear whether the meetings would go ahead as planned.
Israeli radio said Sunday evening Sharon was likely to put off meeting Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayad and interior minister Abdel Razak Yahiya.
Meanwhile, Israel Defense Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said that his planned meeting with Yehiyeh would likely go ahead despite the series of attacks Sunday. The two are inclined to discuss a pilot plan aimed at restoring calm to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Bus attack
The bus was packed with Israelis on their way to work and a number of soldiers returning to their base at the beginning of the work week in Israel. It exploded at the Meron Junction between the towns of Acre and Safed in the Galilee.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the bus attack in a statement aired by Lebanon’s Hizbullah's television station, Al-Manar. Hamas said a suicide bomber had detonated the bomb as a second retaliatory attack for the death of Hamas' military leader, Salah Shehadeh, killed along with 14 other people in an Israeli bombing of Gaza last month.
Mahmoud Al Zahhar, a spokesman for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said the suicide bombing attack was carried out "in revenge for the crimes that the Zionists are carrying out on daily bases against our people." He said the military wing delivered a leaflet without mentioning the name of the bomber in fear that the Israeli army would blow up his house and deport his family.
"The program of resistance is continued against the enemy," Al Zahar said, adding that the ability of the Palestinian people to retaliate "became effective" and the Israelis should now "think carefully" to end its occupation of the West Bank.
The Palestinian leadership condemned the bombing, but also accused Ariel Sharon of "war crimes" for the Israeli army's mass detentions, home demolitions and curfews imposed on Palestinians.
U.S. President Bush said he was "distressed" to learn of the Sunday bombing. "There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we have started. We must not let them," Bush said. "For the sake of humanity, for the sake of the Palestinians who suffer, for the sake of the Israelis who are under attack, we must stop the terror."
Recent attacks have prompted Israel to raid the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday in a hunt for Hamas activists. Israeli troops remained in the city on Sunday. A senior police source, told AP, that nine Israelis were confirmed dead in Sunday's blast, including a number of soldiers. Thirty-seven Israelis were injured, two critically.
Ron Ratner, a spokesman for the Egged bus company, said the passengers on bus No. 361 from Haifa to Tsfat were regulars on Sunday morning, many of them soldiers headed to bases in the north. He said security in Haifa is tight, but that a bomber could have boarded at one of the bus stops on the way.
An Israeli official blamed the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, for the attack saying it showed it "feeds on terror." "This Palestinian terror must be uprooted and Israel will not relent in its pursuit of, and war against, Palestinian terror," said David Baker, an official in the office of Israeli Prime Minister.
Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner vowed the Jewish state would fight "without mercy" against the Palestinians who stand behind the bus attack.
"It is clear that after this particularly murderous attack that Israel must continue to fight without mercy against these terrorist organisations who are behind these atrocities," Pazner told AFP.
"This is a long-term fight we are in to prove to these organisations that they will not shake our determination to conquer this scourge," he added, saying that while the cost of the conflict was terrible, "the Palestinians will end up realising they have more to lose than to win."
Jerusalem shooting
In the Jerusalem shooting, a Palestinian gunman used a pistol to fire at close range on a truck belonging to Israel's main phone company, Bezeq. A security guard was killed and the driver was injured, police said.
Seconds later, Israeli police began firing, witnesses said. The Palestinian was killed by police, and an Arab bystander was hit and killed by crossfire, Israeli officials said. Six people were hurt in the shooting.
Tulkarem
Two Israelis were severely injured Sunday afternoon when gunshots were fired from a passing car at their bus, traveling in the West bank, near Tulkarem. Another Israeli was lightly wounded in the shooting attack. One of the injured is an Israeli soldier. The shooting took place on the road connecting Israeli settlements Avnei Hefetz and Einav.
According to Israel Radio, exchanges of fire between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers continued in the area even after the wounded had been evacuated.
Nablus
Israeli troops searching through the center of Nablus were struck Sunday by an explosive device. The bomb, which had been concealed in one of the narrow alleys in the center of the city, went off as the soldiers passed. The Israeli Army reported that the bomb injured three troops.
Nablus is still under a curfew imposed by the Israeli military, and troops have been conducting widespread searches throughout the streets and houses in the ancient center of the town. Reports were that the Israeli military’s activities continued following the blast, and troops were still active in the center of the city.
Ramallah
Three Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, while traveling in a vehicle north of Ramallah in the West Bank. The other two suffered moderate injuries. According to preliminary reports, the three were injured when a bomb exploded alongside their vehicle and then shots were fired at the passengers.
Israeli medical teams arrived at the scene and were treating the wounded.
Gaza Strip
In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, soldiers shot dead an armed Palestinian dressed in a wet suit who had apparently swum to an area near the Jewish settlements of Dugit and Alei Sinai, the Israeli army said.
Also Sunday, as part of its new policy to demolish homes of suicide bombers and other activists, the Israeli army blew up four houses in and around the city of Jenin, Palestinian witnesses said. In the West Bank city of Hebron, the army blew up another two houses, one of them belonging to a Palestinian who took part on an attack on a Jewish settlement in April in which four people were killed. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
