gelatik
10.03.02, 02:07
JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded
garden cafe across the street from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web
sites)'s walled residential compound Saturday night. Police said 11 people were
killed as the Mideast endured another day of widespread violence.
The assailant walked into the Moment cafe and detonated explosives, said
Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy. Sharon was not at the residence, which is
in the central Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia.
"There was a huge explosion, simply atomic," said one of the cafe's patrons,
who only gave his first name, Eran. "There was smoke everywhere and an acrid
smell of gunpowder. People were screaming. I've never seen anything like it in
my life."
The militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility in a statement, saying
it was "the beginning of retaliatory activities for Sharon's war on the
(Palestinian) refugee camps." The Al Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Fatah (news - web sites)
movement, also claimed it had engineered the attack.
Eleven people were killed and about 50 injured, Jerusalem police said.
Despite a flurry of peace-related meetings in Western and Arab capitals, there
was no letup in Mideast violence Saturday.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo and took up a Saudi peace plan, and Vice
President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) was to leave for the Mideast Sunday on
a 10-day regional tour that could easily be dominated by the escalating Israel-
Palestinian violence.
The Jerusalem cafe blast came just two hours after two Palestinian gunmen
tossed grenades and opened fire at a seafront hotel in the Israeli coastal town
of Netanya. More than 30 people were wounded, police said.
The two Palestinians were chased by police and shot dead in front of a second
hotel nearby, Israeli authorities said. A third man was also shot dead and
police initially thought he also was a Palestinian gunman, but later confirmed
he was an Israeli citizen. It was not clear who shot the Israeli dead, police
said.
The Al Aqsa Brigades militia claimed responsibility for the hotel attack.
In a daylong series of military actions, Israel staged four air strikes in the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip (news - web sites), bulldozed homes and shot dead
two Palestinians, including a 15-year-old girl in West Bank refugee camps,
Palestinians said.
The army also detained an estimated 250 Palestinian men for interrogation in
the Tulkarem refugee camp in West Bank. It was the second straight day of mass
detentions in Tulkarem, which provoked widespread anger among Palestinians. The
town is just inside the West Bank and only 10 miles from the scene of the hotel
shooting in Israel.
On both days, Israeli troops on loudspeakers ordered all men, ages 16 to 40, to
report to a girls school for questioning.
The men held their hands over their heads as they walked through the dusty
streets, while Israeli soldiers pointed rifles at them. About 250 Palestinian
men were detained Saturday, Palestinians said.
Israel detained about 500 Palestinian men at the school on Friday, and later
took them to an army base for interrogation. About 50 of those men were wanted
by Israel, the army said.
The army also said that its search of the camp uncovered 10 Qassam rockets that
are capable of hitting nearby Israeli towns.
In refugee camps in Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem, the 15-year-old
Palestinian girl and the policemen both died of gunshot wounds blamed on the
Israeli forces in the area, according to Palestinian officials and hospital
doctors.
Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers took up positions outside the
Dheisheh refugee camp, and an earthmover dug a trench in the road to cut off
the camp from roads leading in and out. In the past two weeks, such actions
have preceded raids on refugee camps, which are strongholds for militants.
Also, Israeli warplanes and helicopters fired missiles at two Palestinian
security buildings in Gaza City and at two Palestinian government complexes in
Nablus in the West Bank. Seven people were injured in one of the Gaza strikes,
hospital officials said.
Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved into a neighborhood near Khan Yunis in the
southern Gaza Strip, flattening seven homes, witnesses said. The Israeli army
said Palestinians have repeatedly used the buildings to fire on Israeli troops.
In the Gaza Strip, a car carrying Israelis came under fire from Palestinian
gunmen, and two Israelis jumped out of the car and returned fire, an Israeli
military source said.
An Israeli army jeep speeding to the scene thought the two Israelis were
Palestinian gunmen and intentionally ran down one of the Israelis, killing him,
the military source.
Israel says its military offensive is aimed at rooting out militants and
seizing their weapons following a recent wave of bombings and shootings against
Israelis. But Palestinians say the Israelis have frequently fired
indiscriminately, killing civilians and destroying homes and building that were
not linked to the fighting.
Amid the spiraling violence, the United States, the Europeans and Arab leaders
are all working on plans to calm the region following the deadliest week since
the fighting began in September 2000.
More than 100 Palestinians and 30 Israelis were killed this past week, and
Friday was bloodiest single day yet — 39 Palestinians and one Israeli died.
Arafat, who has been urgently seeking international intervention, said he
welcomed the U.S. decision to send Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni, who is expected
this week. "We have to thank President Bush (news - web sites)," Arafat said at
his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah.
In Cairo, Arab foreign ministers called on the United States and the United
Nations (news - web sites) to intervene, and took up a Saudi peace plan that
has the backing of many Arab states, though Israel has expressed strong
reservations.
Facing pressure from the usually friendly U.S. administration, Sharon said
Friday he would ease his longstanding demand for a week of absolute calm before
moving forward with a U.S. truce plan.
Sharon announced the shift on Israeli television Friday after a telephone
conversation Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) and blunt
comments from the U.S. State Department, which warned Israel against "going
into heavily populated areas with heavy military force."
Sharon did not say exactly what he was seeking now, but his remarks were met
with deep skepticism from the Palestinian side.
"Words are not enough. Sharon and his government have to stop their continuous
massacres against Palestinian civilians, cities villages and refugee camps,"
said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Arafat. "There is no military solution."
The U.S. diplomatic efforts hinge on a truce proposal drafted last year by CIA
(news - web sites) chief George Tenet and a plan for renewed peace talks
outlined by an international commission headed by former Sen. George Mitchell.
The provisions include a call for Israel to pull back troops to positions they
held before fighting erupted in September 2000. The Palestinians would make an
all-out effort to prevent attacks on Israelis.
News of the latest attacks on Israelis was met with celebration by Palestinians
in Lebanon's largest refugee camp. Scores of people took to the streets in the
Ein El-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon, firing their weapons and
rocket-propelled grenades skyward and shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Great."
