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Five
Dead in Palestinian Attack, Arafat Condemns
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One
Israeli and two foreign workers died in the attack
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TEL
AVIV, July 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority denounced an attack
by Palestinian resistance bombers in Tel Aviv late Wednesday night,
July 17, but said Israel
shared in the blame.
“We
condemn this operation,” said a statement from the authority’s
cabinet secretary, Ahmed Abdelrahman. “This will not help the
Palestinian people.”
But
the statement added: “Israel
bears part of the responsibility because of its continuing occupation
of our territories and our towns.”
Two
resistance bombers blew themselves up in a busy area of Tel Aviv late
Wednesday, killing three other people and wounding about 40 in the
second attack on Israelis in two days, officials said.
The
blasts went off about 20 meters (66 feet) apart in a downtown area
near the old bus station that is full of falafel and shawerma stands,
coffee shops and the central cinema, and is frequented by foreign
workers, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Israeli
public radio said one Israeli and two foreign workers died in the
attack, which came six months after a resistance bomber wounded 14
people on virtually the same spot.
The
incident in southern Tel Aviv was the second attack in two days on
Israeli targets.
Officials
said the bombers Wednesday took up positions in front of a late night
snack kiosk wearing belts carrying five kilograms (11 pounds) each of
explosive and shrapnel.
“What
we fear is a second attack taking place when the emergency services
have arrived. But these two explosions occurred within a very short
time of each other,” said Tel Aviv police chief Yossi Sedbon.
Kleiman
said about 40 people were wounded and the radio, quoting emergency
service workers, said five people were in serious condition. Officials
said the vast majority of the injured were foreign workers.
An
anonymous caller claiming to represent the Islamic Jihad told AFP the
resistance group was responsible for the bombing. Officials claimed a
note in Arabic was found on one of the bombers and the radio alleged
it contained some verses from the Koran.
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“Israel
bears part of the responsibility because of its continuing
occupation of our territories and our towns.”
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Yossi
Landau, a volunteer for the Zaka rescue and recovery organization,
said the onset of the Jewish holiday, Tisha B’Av, which is a period
of fasting and mourning, probably emptied the streets and cut the
potential death toll by 70 percent.
The
resistance bombings, the first since back-to-back attacks on Jerusalem
on June 18-19, came a day after the “quartet” of diplomatic powers
seeking peace in the Middle East met in New York in a new bid to move
talks forward.
Israeli
government spokesman Avi Pazner called the latest attack a
“concerted effort” by Palestinians, encouraged by Arafat’s
Palestinian Authority, “to launch a series of murderous attacks on
Israelis at this time.”
“It
coincides with efforts of the quartet to try and move the peace
process forward. It is designed to sideline this effort.”
But the latest bombing was a new source of frustration for the
Israelis who have occupied seven of eight major West Bank towns for
nearly a month in a new military offensive following the June attacks
in Jerusalem that left 26 Israelis dead.
“We
know that we cannot succeed 100 percent” in preventing Palestinian
attacks, Pazner said. “We have now a rate of 90 percent, we will try
to increase it to 96, 97 or 98 percent.”
The
Israelis had hoped to ease some of the curfew and other restrictions
and restart a dialogue with the Palestinians on humanitarian issues.
But they hardened their attitude after the latest bloodshed.
Defense
Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer’s office announced a freezing of
“the alleviation measures that were authorized today [Wednesday] in
the sphere of trade and industry for the Palestinian population.”
The
statement did not spell out exactly what measures had been approved or
who had authorized them earlier in the day.
U.S. President George W. Bush took the
opportunity in condemning the latest attack to renew his call for the
removal of Arafat, and for a new Palestinian leadership.
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