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Bomber after new palestinian cabinet { April 30 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,946364,00.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,946364,00.html
Suicide bomber kills two in Tel Aviv
Attack comes after Palestinians approve peacemaking cabinet
Yoav Appel in Tel Aviv and Conal Urquhart in Ramallah
Wednesday April 30, 2003
The Guardian
A suicide bomber wrecked a Tel Aviv bar early today, killing at least two and wounding dozens more, just hours after the Palestinian parliament approved the government of Mahmoud Abbas and he spoke against violence.
Police commander Yossi Sedbon said the bomber blew himself up outside Mike's Place bar, near the US embassy, on the seafront walkway after failing to get inside. The bomb blew the front off the bar and wrecked furniture inside.
An eyewitness told Army Radio that the guard at the bar prevented the bomber from entering.
The bomb went off just after 1am local time, when seafront restaurants and nightspots are often full of people.
Within hours, the White House issued a statement condemning the "cowardly" attack and pledging that it would not be allowed to derail new hopes for peace.
David Baker, an official in the Israeli prime minister's office, said that the attack was evidence that "Palestinian terrorism has not been reined in". He said that the "new Palestinian government must seize this opportunity to stop these terror attacks, and it must be done now".
Earlier, the Palestinian parliament approved Mahmoud Abbas's government, clearing the way for the long-awaited publication of the "road map" peace plan.
Fifty-one out of 85 members of the Palestinian legislative council backed Mr Abbas - popularly known as Abu Mazen - and his programme which calls for an end to terrorism and the removal of all unauthorised weapons.
The Middle East envoys of the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia were due to meet last night to discuss whether the road map should be formally published today or tomorrow.
In his first address to the Palestinian parliament, Mr Abbas denounced all forms of terrorism as he outlined his reform programme.
He said that terrorism was wrong on "religious and moral" grounds, and its use had almost destroyed the Palestinian cause. "We are convinced that such methods do not lend support to a just cause like ours but rather destroy it," he said.
He was speaking to persuade the members of the Palestinian legislative council to approve his cabinet and set out the steps his government would take to satisfy the demands of the road map.
The road map is a process, monitored by the international community, which should lead to the creation of a Palestinian state within three years.
Mr Abbas told the parliament that it was vital that the Palestinian government was the only body that should carry arms, to move away from the "armed chaos" that currently exists.
"The unauthorised possession of weapons with its direct threat to the security of the population is a major concern that will be relentlessly addressed," he said.
The main armed groups, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a part of Mr Abbas and Arafat's Fatah faction, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad have so far insisted that they will continue to fight unless the Israelis withdraw from Palestinian areas or release their leaders.
"Of course we will not disarm," said Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, a Hamas official in Gaza.
"We are resisting an occupation that still exists. The day we get rid of the occupation we can talk about arms."
Israel has stated that its benchmark for any concessions demanded of it by the road map is the Palestinian Authority's complete suppression of attacks on Israel.
Mr Abbas also said that the major role of his government would be the creation of a Palestinian state, based on the 1967 borders of the West Bank and Gaza, without Israeli settlements and with Jerusalem as its capital.
He said the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands was a source of misery for Palestinians: "The military and colonising occupation with its practices of assassinations, detentions, checkpoints, sieges, demolition of homes is the root of our suffering and is the main source of our problems."
Earlier, Israeli forces assassinated a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader in Gaza. Two other men were killed in a gunfight.
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