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Suicide bomb kills at least 5 in israel { December 5 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/05/AR2005120500155.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/05/AR2005120500155.html
Suicide Bombing Kills at Least Five in Israel
Attack Comes as Israel and Palestinian Authority Prepare for Elections
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 5, 2005; 8:00 AM
JERUSALEM, Dec. 5 -- A Palestinian man detonated an explosive device Monday morning outside a crowded shopping mall in the seaside city of Netanya, killing at least five Israelis and himself while wounding more than 30 others.
The suicide attack was the first in Israel since late October, when a bomber killed six Israelis at an outdoor market in the nearby city of Hadera, and the second to strike Netanya's Hasharon Mall this year.
It came as Israel and the Palestinian Authority are preparing for national elections, and officials on both sides said the attack appeared designed to shape the emerging campaigns and undermine progress toward reviving a dormant peace process.
Witnesses described a huge blast that shook the walls of the glass-and-steel mall and left bodies scattered in the intersection at the eastern entrance to the city, which sits about 10 miles from the West Bank border marked by Israel's separation barrier.
"An enormous mushroom cloud of smoke rose from the place," Zion Vatouri, the owner of the Auto Plus car dealership across from the mall, told the Israeli news Web site Ynet. "The injured were screaming. The image etched in my mind was of a man wearing a light-blue shirt lying there, not moving. Only after they covered him with a blanket did I know he was dead."
It was initially unclear who was responsible for the attack, which occurred around 11:30 a.m. local time. But it appeared to be the work of Islamic Jihad, a small radical Palestinian faction that rejects Israel's right to exist.
An official for the group asserted responsibility for the bombing in a phone call to the al-Manar satellite television channel. The station is owned by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement at war with Israel, which like Islamic Jihad receives a portion of its funding from Iran.
The bomber was identified as Lufti Amin Abu Salem, 21, from the West Bank village of Kfar Rai roughly between Tulkarm and Jenin. The northern West Bank region has produced a high proportion of Palestinian suicide bombers, prompting Israel to complete the separation barrier in the area first.
The attack further undermines the temporary cease-fire that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas consolidated in March between a dozen armed Palestinian factions. In a statement, Abbas said, "Those who are responsible should be hunted down by the Palestinian police. The Palestinian Authority will have no tolerance for such actions."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has demanded that Abbas disarm the armed Palestinian groups as a prerequisite for progress on the U.S.-back peace plan, known as the roadmap. Sharon has also warned that Israel may not cooperate in allowing the Palestinian parliamentary elections, scheduled for Jan. 25, unless radical Palestinian groups are disarmed first.
Abbas has sought to improve security by bringing the groups into the political process, allowing them over the past year to participate in municipal elections and soon the national voting for parliament. He is doing so even though the Islamic Resistance Movement, better known as Hamas, poses a serious political threat to his Fatah movement. Islamic Jihad, however, has declined to participate in elections to date.
Israeli officials said the Monday attack, which comes as Israel's own campaign season is taking shape before March general elections, shows that Abbas' strategy is failing.
Sharon has created a new centrist movement to pursue a peace agreement with the Palestinians, but a decline in Israel's security could turn public opinion against the highly popular prime minister.
"It's quite obvious that the lack of action by the Palestinian Authority to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure is one of the main reasons these actions are still taking place," said Raanan Gissin, a Sharon spokesman. "The other thing wrong is the assumption that if the groups are allowed into the elections they can be co-opted. The ones paying the price are us."
Gissin added that he believes Iran, whose new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, recently called for Israel's elimination, is behind the attack.
The informal truce has brought about a significant reduction in violence after five years of the most recent Palestinian uprising. It came as part of a broader deal reached by Sharon and Abbas in February at the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The agreement was designed to reduce Israel's military presence in the West Bank and encourage the Palestinian leadership to confront the armed groups. But little of that agreement has been implemented, and frustration on both sides has mounted.
Israel returned Tulkarm earlier this year to Palestinian security forces, for example, but rolled back into the city in July after a bomber from a nearby village killed five Israelis in a suicide attack outside the Hasharon Mall.
Palestinian leaders say Israel's mass arrests, checkpoints and military operations on the West Bank have inflamed the security climate, while Israeli officials say they are only moving to head off Palestinian attacks.
The last two suicide attacks inside Israel were carried out by Islamic Jihad, whose military operation is far more influential than its political wing.
"This attack just adds to the complexities of the situation and harms Palestinian interests," said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. "It's an attempt to sabotage attempts to move ahead with a peace process and I think it could also hurt the elections."
Gissin said Sharon would be meeting with his security cabinet in the coming hours to design an Israeli military response to the bombing.
In recent months, Israel has reacted to such attacks by closing the West Bank to Palestinians, mass arrests, and military operations against members of the group.
"Israel is not going to tolerate these acts as we move into this very sensitive period," Gissin said. "They either bring them to justice or we bring justice to them."
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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