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New Bombing Days After Deadly Blast and Israeli Seizures
JERUSALEM, Aug 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Palestinian bomber blew himself up in a busy cafe near the northern port city of Haifa Sunday, injuring 15 people, just three days after an attack in Jerusalem killed 16, including the bomber and Israel's takeover of Orient House in East Jerusalem. No one was killed in the new blast.
The Palestinian group that claimed responsibility for the blast, Islamic Jihad, said in a statement that the bombing had been "a reprisal for the massacres committed by the Zionist enemy against our people."
A seven-year-old Palestinian girl also died Sunday evening from a gunshot to the head in the West Bank City of Hebron, after being shot by Israeli forces.
As the two sides were still coping with the political fall-out of the Jerusalem pizzeria attack last Thursday, which triggered Israel to take over Orient House in East Jerusalem from Palestinian Authority control, a second bombing occurred at the Wall Street cafe in Kiryat Motzkin, a small town just north of Haifa.
Al-Manar television said it had received the Islamic Jihad statement claiming the "Jerusalem Brigades", the movement's armed faction, had carried out the attack.
The bomber's name was Mohammad Mahmud Bakr Nasr, 28, from the town of Qabatiya, near Jenin in the northern West Bank, the statement said.
Nasr had been fired from the Palestinian Authority's military intelligence in June, relatives said.
Islamic Jihad and Hamas, the two groups that have claimed responsibility for numerous retatliations against Israel since the start of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in 1993, say that their attacks are retaliatory moves in response to Israel's killings of Palestinian civilians and its policy of assassinating activist leaders, as well as discriminatory occupation policies.
One Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, Sheikh Nafedh Azzam, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the Haifa attack was an "act of self defense" by the Palestinians.
"This operation is a message to the world. The Palestinian people are only defending themselves against Israel which started the aggression against children, women and the elderly," Azzam said.
After Thursday's Jerusalem bombing, Israel took over the Palestinian Authority's unofficial headquarters in East Jerusalem, Orient House, and several other Palestinian buildings, in a move condemned by world leaders.
Following the new attack, the Israeli government called on the international community to put pressure on Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat to clamp down on Palestinians "waging a terror campaign on Israel".
Hamas applauded Sunday's night attack, and pledged to continue anti-Israeli operations.
"Israeli aggression will only consolidate the resistance of our people and their response," one of the movement's leaders, Ismail Abu Shaneb, told AFP.
Meanwhile, EU diplomatic chief Javier Solana condemned the latest attack.
But in Egypt, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher cautioned there would be no stop to the violence until Israel reaches a political solution with the Palestinians.
And in southern Lebanon, Palestinian refugees gathered at the Ain Helweh camp and celebrated the latest bombing in Israel with sweets and cheering.
Iraq Sunday also praised the latest attack.
"Iraq praises this heroism and courage," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said.
Israel has been on high alert for weeks, fearing Palestinian retaliatory attacks after the government stepped up its policy of assassinating Palestinians it said were planning more bombing attacks.
Since mid-July, Israel has "liquidated" nine members of Hamas.
Israel has come under stiff criticism for its counter-attack after the Jerusalem bombing, which was the worst strike on the disputed city since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, last September.
The occupation of Orient House, a symbolic building seen by Palestinians as the seat of government for a future state with Jerusalem as its capital, caused a storm of protest in the Arab world and was criticized by the United States as a "serious political escalation".
Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmad Qorei said Sunday that the Palestinians would resist "by all means" Israel's occupation and closure of their institutions in East Jerusalem.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan added to the condemnation Sunday, urging Israel in a statement to end "without delay" its occupation of the building, which he described as an "unwise step, which is leading to even greater friction and further violence."
Ignoring criticism and clashes with protestors in East Jerusalem over the past few days, hardline Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau said Orient House would remain under Israeli control "for good".
After a cabinet meeting, the Israeli government went even further, saying in a statement there would be no more activities by the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem.
In addition, Israel on Sunday accused the Palestinian Authority of freeing three Hamas members.
However, there were signs of a softening stance after political sources announced that Sharon approved his dovish Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' meeting with Palestinians other than Arafat, accompanied by military personnel, on the revival of the dead letter ceasefire.
Earlier, Peres had told fellow Labor party members there was "no chance" of reviving a shattered ceasefire declared under U.S. auspices in June unless the government starts talking to the Palestinian leadership.
Since the June truce, 102 people have died in the conflict, 65 Palestinians, 35 Israelis and two foreigners.
"Some people say that there should be no negotiations under fire and I accept that ... but there must be negotiations to apply the ceasefire," Peres told Israeli radio.
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