The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which is opposed to the 34-year military occupation of Palestinian land, has claimed responsibility for killing at least 28 Israelis and wounding more than 250 in less than twenty-four hours.
Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzeddin Al Qassam Brigades, said it carried out the twin suicide bombings in occupied Jerusalem in which 10 Israelis were killed late Saturday, and a powerful explosion on a bus in Haifa Sunday in which at least 15 were killed, and more than 30 wounded.
Hamas also killed a Jewish settler in a Gaza settlement and injured five, while the two attackers were killed by an Israeli tank.
Mahmoud Zahhar, spokesman for the group, rejected a theory that the timing of the attacks was aimed at undermining US efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.
He said that Israel had recently killed 20 Palestinians, including Hamas military leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, who was assassinated last month by Israeli troops.
“The US has to make a distinction between the victim and the victimizer,” he said in an interview with Al Jazeera satellite channel.
The Tel Aviv-based Haaretz has reported that the number of Palestinians killed in the 14-month rebellion against 34 years of occupation now exceeds 700, and the toll of wounded is between 8,500 and 10,000.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who took office promising to guarantee the safety of ordinary Israelis within a short period of time by taking a hard line, recently told his Likud Party inner circle to prepare for a long struggle.
The explosion in Haifa ripped through the No. 16 bus in the Hadar section of Haifa just after midday Sunday. Three of the wounded are in serious condition.
Police believe the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. The explosion took place on Hagiborim Street in the Halisa neighborhood in the coastal city.
The Palestinian leadership has "strongly" condemned Sunday's bus bombing in Haifa, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has called an emergency meeting to take "very important and forceful decisions," the secretary general of the Palestinian cabinet told AFP.
“We strongly condemn the bombing of the bus in Haifa and also condemn all attacks which target civilians," Ahmad Abdul Rahman said.
“The Palestinian leadership will hold a meeting now headed by President Arafat after the bombing operations in Jerusalem and Haifa," he said.
JERUSALEM BOMBING
The Palestinian leadership also condemned the Jerusalem suicide bombings, which were initially claimed to the Islamic Jihad.
A spokeswoman for the BBC said Sunday in London confirmed "we did receive a call in our Jerusalem bureau from a caller who claimed to be from Islamic Jihad. It was just before midnight, in time for our midnight bulletin, pretty soon after the attack."
BBC correspondent Orla Guerin, in a report from occupied Jerusalem, said the caller also announced there would be more attacks against Israel during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which lasts another two weeks.
But Hamas said it was the party that carried out the attack, identifying the two bombers as Nabil Halabeyyeh and Osama Obeid.
The bombing was “one of the worst (attacks) we have ever seen,” AP quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres as saying.
Hospital officials told CNN that the wounded were pouring into the city’s three major health facilities.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks, expressing its “deep anger ... and pain”“ and accusing those behind it of trying to derail a US peace initiative.
HAMAS KILLS SETTLER IN GAZA, LOSES ATTACKERS
Israeli forces on Sunday killed two Palestinians from Hamas who had earlier slain a Jewish settler and wounded several others, Israeli military sources said, quoted on public radio.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Al Jazeera satellite channel.
A group of Palestinians had infiltrated into a sector near the Jewish settlement of Alei Sinai in the northern Gaza Strip, triggering a firefight with troops, army radio said earlier.
Haaretz newspaper said four people were wounded in the attack, which came hours after the suicide attack in west Jerusalem.
The paper said that after firing on the car, the gunmen fled to a firing range used by the Israeli army, located between the settlements of Alei Sinai and Nisanit. A gunbattle ensued during which an Israel tank found and killed both gunmen. Army Radio reported that the two were dressed in Israeli army uniforms.
Three mortars were fired at settlements in Gaza in the course of Sunday morning. There were no injuries, added the paper.
The Israeli policy of settling huge swathes of land seized from Palestinians in 1967 is one of the major causes of the current uprising.
According to the UK-based magazine The Economist, Israel has "flouted" the 1993 Oslo peace accords by flooding land formerly owned by Palestinians with its own citizens
The attacks came as a senior US envoy, retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, was in Israel to try to secure a ceasefire, which despite numerous agreements have failed to take hold. Palestinian leaders have repeatedly sought international monitors for such truces, only to see their efforts blocked in the UN by Israel’s US backers.
This, combined with the billions in military aid the US provides to Tel Aviv, have made many Palestinians wary of Washington’s efforts to present itself as an “impartial broker” of peace talks. Israelis, meanwhile, are suspicious of US criticism of their settlements on conquered Palestinian land, and believe Washington’s latest peace push stems from a desire to rally Arab support for the global war on terror – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
