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Two suicide bombings { August 12 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1060682531.asphttp://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1060682531.asp
Two Israelis dead in twin suicide bombings
Tuesday August 12, 2003 12:02 - (SA)
JERUSALEM - A pair of suicide bombings at a shopping center near Tel Aviv and a West Bank settlement today killed two Israelis and wounded a dozen others in the biggest Palestinian attacks since Islamic militants declared a truce six weeks ago.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts that went off about 40 minutes apart this morning at the Neve Afek shopping center in the town of Rosh Ha-Ayin and the settlement of Ariel.
But Israeli officials said they appeared to be coordinated. "The timing, the style, it looks like it's not a coincidence," said Jonathan Peled, spokesman for the foreign ministry.
The twin attacks came just as William Burns, the top US diplomat on the Middle East, was due to arrive here to discuss the state of the peace process. They posed the most serious challenge to a truce declared by Palestinian militants on June 29.
They sparked a new round of fingerpointing, with Israelis and Palestinians accusing each other of failing to live up to their obligations under the US-sponsored peace "roadmap."
Israeli officials said a suicide bomber walked into a supermarket at the shopping center and set off 2.5 to three kilograms (5.5 to 6.6 pounds) of explosive material mixed with bits of metal and carried in a shoulder bag.
A 43-year-old Israeli was killed and 10 others wounded, including one critically and four seriously, in the blast that went off shortly after 9:00 am (0600 GMT), police and rescue workers said.
Israeli police later arrested a man suspected of dropping off the suicide bomber at the shopping center, public radio said.
A short while after the shopping center attack, one Israeli was killed and two others wounded by a blast as they were standing at a hitchhiking stop at the Ariel settlment, Israeli authorities said.
They said the attacker pulled up in a booby-trapped car, which blew up after Israel guards fired on it.
The settlement lies 20 kilometers (12 miles) inside the West Bank and has been at the center of a controversy over Israeli plans to build a protective barrier around it.
The attacks came four days after an Israeli raid Friday on the West Bank town of Nablus that left four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier dead.
The armed wing of the militant group Hamas has promised to avenge the raid, but no group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion today.
Mohammad Dahlan, the Palestinian minister of state for security affairs, condemned the attacks. But he and spokesmen for the groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad blamed the fresh bloodshed on Israel's continued raids into autonomous Palestinian territory.
"We are against any operations of this kind but it must be clear that it is Israel which should be more responsible and stop its operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," Dahlan said.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Haniya said his group was still committed to the truce proclaimed on June 29 but added: "The Israeli enemy is responsible for this situation because of their rejection of the ceasefire and their tough position."
Islamic Jihad spokesman Mohammad al-Hindi said: "Israel is responsible for the violence. ... They don't respect the ceasefire and they continue their attacks against the Palestinian people since the first day of the ceasefire."
There was no immediate comment from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which includes some local branches that have rejected the truce and been responsible for previous gunfire attacks.
The only other fatal bombing since the ceasefire was on July 7, when the attacker and an elderly Israeli women died in a house near Tel Aviv.
Avi Pazner, an Israeli government spokesman, lashed out at the Palestinian Authority for failing to take action to neutralize the radical groups.
"We advised the Palestinian Authority that the Palestinian terrorist organizations were preparing attacks against Israel and it did nothing," Pazner stated.
"We formally call on Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to dismantle the terrorist organizations, arrest their members and round up their arms according to the commitments made at the Aqaba summit two months ago," Pazner said.
He was referring to the gathering of US President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas that launched the "roadmap" for peace aimed at establishing a Palestinian state by 2005.
Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, was due to arrive Tuesday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials in what one Israeli official called a "maintenance" visit to check on the state of the peace process.
His visit comes amid a rare bout of criticism from the United States over the path of a security barrier Israel is erecting to protect itself from would-be attackers from the West Bank.
Palestinians see the barrier, particularly plans to wall off Ariel, as a land grab while the United States fears it could complicate efforts to delineate the borders of a future Palestinian state.
AFP
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