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3 die israeli mall suicide { May 19 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2771273http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2771273
Three Die at Israeli Mall in Latest Suicide Bombing
Mon May 19, 2003 01:34 PM ET
By Albert Robinson
AFULA, Israel (Reuters) - A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber struck an Israeli shopping mall Monday, killing three people and extending a new wave of bloodshed that has battered prospects for a U.S.-backed peace plan.
It was the fifth suicide attack in three days by Palestinian militants sworn to wreck the "road map" peace initiative embraced by a new reform-minded Palestinian leadership but not by Israel's right-wing government, which objects on security grounds.
In Washington, President Bush said that despite the latest bombings he would persevere with the plan for a Palestinian state co-existing alongside Israel by 2005.
The bomber appeared to have detonated his explosives when confronted by a woman security guard at the entrance to the shopping center in the northern town of Afula, witnesses said.
"There is no doubt our methods of security...prevented a far biggest attack," said regional police chief Yakov Borovsky.
The guard and bomber were among the dead and 17 people were wounded in what witnesses described as a "huge explosion."
It shattered and warped the doors at the covered mall entrance. A Hebrew sign above them bid shoppers: "Welcome."
There was no early claim of responsibility for the attack. The Islamic militant group Hamas said it carried out the other four bombings since Saturday.
Senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi said an independence fight launched 31 months ago in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, would continue without respite.
Earlier Monday, a suicide bomber on a bicycle wounded three Israeli soldiers near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, a day after a bomber disguised as a religious Jew killed seven bus passengers in Jerusalem.
NEW SUICIDE WAVE
There have been six suicide attacks since reformist Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas took office three weeks ago, compared with five in the six months beforehand, suggesting a concerted militant campaign to undermine his diplomatic agenda.
After the Jerusalem bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon postponed a visit to Washington for talks with Bush on the "road map" and ordered Palestinian areas sealed off, reimposing a military clampdown eased last week at U.S. request.
Bush told reporters: "I've got confidence we can move the peace process forward. The road map still stands ... We're still on the road to peace. It's just going to be a bumpy road and I'm not going to get off the road until we achieve the vision."
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz blamed Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for the latest attack. "We are convinced that first and foremost Arafat is the factor preventing this (peace) process from taking off," Mofaz told reporters.
Arafat has denied Israeli and U.S. accusations of inciting militants and told Reuters after hearing of the Afula bombing: "We completely condemn these activities against civilians."
Mofaz told a security symposium earlier Monday Israel would consider expelling Arafat if he stymied Abbas's professed intention to rein in militants and implement reforms for peace.
U.S. and Israeli officials place big hope in Abbas, but he was installed under mediators' pressure, lacks street popularity and has tussled with Arafat in trying to consolidate his power.
Abbas met Sharon Saturday for the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian encounter in more than two years but it was eclipsed by weekend bombings that killed eight Israelis.
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