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Car Bomb Blast In Jerusalem
JERUSALEM, May 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A car bomb exploded overnight near Israeli police headquarters in west Jerusalem, without causing injuries, as the Islamic world urged a halt to all political contact with Israel against a backdrop of U.S. and Russian diplomatic activity.
The latest bombing occurred just before the arrival in the region of U.S. special Middle East envoy William Burns, while Russian envoy Yevgeny Primakov began a tour of the region in Jordan.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has claimed responsibility for the car bombing, saying it was a response to "Israeli crimes".
In a communiqué sent to the AFP, the Damascus-based PFLP said its "militants detonated a car bomb targeting a police post in occupied al-Quds [Jerusalem] in response to crimes committed by the Zionist government against our people...."
"We are going to respond to aggression against our people ... with widespread attacks in Israel, and all the towns and their suburbs will be targets for our fighters," the communiqué said.
The PFLP, headed by Abu Ali Mustapha, belongs to the Palestine Liberation Organization dominated by Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
Meanwhile, the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Doha, Qatar, urged the United States and the United Nations to take urgent action to halt Israeli "aggression" against the Palestinians, and called on Islamic countries to halt all political contact with Israel.
Jerusalem police chief Miki Levy said no one was injured in the blast, according to the radio, which earlier said at least three had been hurt.
"It was a very powerful charge. A strong explosion. The car was blown to bits and the debris covered the entire sector," Levy told the radio station.
Nobody was in the car when it exploded, he added.
The explosion took place in a parking lot near several busy restaurants and cafes, often crowded with young people on Saturday evenings, and about 20 meters (yards) from police headquarters.
The blast shook surrounding buildings and the nearby district court. Several cars parked close to the scene caught fire and exploded.
A huge column of smoke hung over the green domes of the big Russian Orthodox Church in the center of the square where the police headquarters is located.
Burns was scheduled to have talks Sunday with Arafat at Ramallah in the West Bank before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem, while Primakov arrived in Jordan.
Arab countries, traditionally close to Moscow, are pushing it to take a more active role in the peace process. Israeli spokesman Raanan Gissin said Burns will "discuss applying the first stage of the Mitchell report, which calls for an immediate and unconditional halt to the violence."
He was referring to the report of the commission chaired by former U.S. senator George Mitchell into the causes of the violence published Monday and supported by the United States.
The report calls for a halt to settlement activities. Sharon has rejected a total freeze, citing the need to allow for settlements' population growth, but has reiterated his commitment to the report.
Israel on Tuesday had announced a unilateral "ceasefire", saying its forces would not carry out any more offensive pre-emptive strikes in the Palestinian territories, but that it maintained the right to strike back in cases of legitimate defense.
Israeli attacks prior to the "ceasefire" announcement were labeled as "retaliatory" measures, and not pre-emptive strikes.
The move followed publication of the Mitchell report, which called for an immediate and unconditional end to the violence in the region in order to enable measures to be taken to restore confidence between Israelis and Palestinians after eight months of violence and, later, a resumption of negotiations to end the conflict once and for all.
On Friday, there were two attacks against Israeli targets, one in the Gaza Strip and the other in Hadera, north of Tel Aviv.
Sharon has indicated that Israel would continue to observe the "ceasefire" for "a few more days" to see if the Palestinians reciprocated.
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