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Five Killed In Latest Violence; Powell "Pleased With Envoys"
JERUSALEM, Nov 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Three people were killed and a number of others hurt Thursday night in an explosion on board a bus near the town of Pardes Khana, about 43 miles (70 kilometers) north of here, the police said.
Israeli public radio said the blast was the work of a bomber. Police did not immediately confirm the report.
Dozens of ambulances converged on the scene of the blast. Numerous people were reportedly injured, many of them seriously.
Witnesses said the bus was "blown to bits" by the explosion, which they described as "enormous." One witness, who was driving in a nearby car, said a "bomb apparently blew up inside the vehicle."
Earlier, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians when they opened fire on cars at a checkpoint near the West Bank town of Nablus.
In a separate incident in the West Bank, a wing of Arafat's Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the shooting death of an Israeli soldier and the wounding of another. A third Israeli was also injured in the attack.
The latest eruption of violence occurred just as hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was prepared to leave for a five-day visit to the United States, where he was due to meet with President George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday in Washington that he was pleased with the work accomplished thus far by two envoys he sent this week to the Middle East to press an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire - despite the latest eruption of political violence.
Powell also said he hoped that a specific timetable for steps toward a ceasefire would be worked out on the ground.
"I think they are off to a good start," Powell said, referring to former Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns, who began talks in the region on Monday.
Both met earlier with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Burns has now traveled on to Egypt and is expected in Jordan on Friday before moving on to Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Zinni, however, stayed behind in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to continue to work on cementing a ceasefire on a mission that Powell said was "open-ended."
"I am not in a hurry," Powell said in an interview with a small group of reporters. "Zinni will be dogged and he will be patient and we are going to try to take real, small reciprocal steps to move forward toward a ceasefire."
Earlier Thursday, after meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher at the State Department, Powell said he would like to see Zinni bring both Israeli and Palestinian officials into agreement on a timetable for steps that would lead to a ceasefire.
Zinni also met senior Palestinian officials. Earlier Thursday, Zinni met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Chief of Staff General Shaul Mofaz and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer.
"As they proceed with their work, obviously, they will come up with a timetable as to how they will go forward," Powell said. "That's the kind of work that has to be done on the ground between the two sides, deciding what that timetable should be and not the United States imposing a timetable."
Pressure mounted on Zinni Thursday with new violence pushing the death toll in the 14-month Palestinian uprising to 1,005. The overwhelming majority of the victims have been Palestinian, many of them young children.
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