“We know that the investigations of all the attacks lead to the Muqataa,”

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, August 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - An Israeli cabinet minister said Wednesday, August 20, that the ultimate blame for attacks on Israel lay with Yasser Arafat and that the Palestinian president's West Bank headquarters should be "obliterated."

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas decided early Wednesday to break off contacts with the two resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad after claiming responsibility for Tuesday night's occupied Jerusalem bus attack, which killed 20 passengers and wounded another 130.

"We know that the investigations of all the attacks lead to the Muqataa (Arafat's general headquarters), which ought to be obliterated along with everyone in it," Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the extreme right National Union and minister for infrastructure, told Israeli public radio after the attack, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

For his part, Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, from the centrist Shinui party, called on Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmmoud Abbas and his security chief, Mohammad Dahlan, to "begin without delay the battle against terrorist organizations."

"There is no longer a minute to spare," Lapid said. "They should make war on the terrorists, with the failure to do so meaning we will have no other choice than to take it on."

"This is not just another attack, it is determinant, and I am convinced that the Americans think as I do, that the Palestinian Authority must act against terrorism, now or never," Lapid added.

Within the same context, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was due to hold security consultations on Wednesday morning, to weigh additional Israeli responses to the Tuesday night bombing, the Israeli H’aaretz newspaper said. 

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Israel froze security talks and the planned
withdrawal of Israeli occupation troops from any more West Bank cities.

"Israel has cancelled the talks and frozen all moves to withdraw from Qalqilya and Jericho," Elias Zananieri, spokesman for Dahlan, told AFP.

Talks Called Off

Israeli rescue workers and police forensics work at the scene of the blast

The Palestinian Premier, in the meanwhile, decided to break off contacts with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a senior Palestinian official said.

After consultations with Palestinian ministers Abbas had decided to "stop all contact and dialogue with Hamas and Islamic Jihad," the official told AFP.

The official, who asked not to be named, said that Abbas would take unspecified measures against the groups which he held "responsible for harming the Palestinian national interests."

Hamas, Jihad Claim Responsibility

The Tuesday night bombing was claimed by two resistance organizations - Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

Both groups and other major resistance groups signed on to a three-month unilateral truce on June 29 but have insisted they retain the right to respond to any Israeli provocation.

"Raaed Abdul Hamid Misk, 29, from the West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) carried out the operation," Ezzudin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas armed wing, said in a statement, a copy of which was e-mailed to IslamOnline.net.

The operation comes "in response to the assassination of three Hamas activists in Nablus Friday, August 8, and the leader of Islamic Jihad's armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, Thursday, August 14," the statement added.

The statement also asked the government of Ariel Sharon to "export more black plastic bags to meet the demands on coffins for its soldiers and settlers."

The brigades, however, said that they were still committed to the truce, but warning that they reserve the right of response to any Israeli violations of the fragile truce.

The bomb went off shortly after 9 pm (1800 GMT) Tuesday just as Abbas was having talks with the Islamic Jihad in Gaza on prospects for maintaining the truce. He cancelled the meeting he was to have had later with Hamas.

The Palestinian Prime Minister, who had been preparing for a trip to Rome and Oslo, has cancelled all outside travel to stay and follow up the latest crisis in the U.S.-sponsored peace process, the official said.