A Palestinian man was seriously injured Sunday as a series of explosions rocked a home in the south of Gaza City, a Palestinian security official and witnesses told AFP.
"An investigation has begun and the circumstances are still unclear," the official said.
Four consecutive explosions were heard coming from the home in a residential area of Sheikh Ijlin in southern Gaza City, witnesses said, adding that a fire broke out and the building was damaged.
The man, whose identity was unknown, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, medical sources said.
Earlier in the day, Israeli forces detonated a small bomb in the northern port city of Haifa on Sunday, lightly injuring one policeman, Israeli radio reported, cited by AFP.
According to the radio, it was not yet clear whether the planting of the bomb at a major intersection in northern Haifa, was criminal or nationalistic.
The incident occurred following a suicide attack in the town of Kfar Saba near the West Bank which killed the bomber and an Israeli doctor and wounded more than 40.
The bomb exploded around 9 a.m. Israel local time (06.00 GMT) near an Egged bus in the Israeli city of Kfar Saba near the West Bank town of Qaliqilya on the Green Line border, said reports.
Israel's police chief, Shlomo Aharonishki, said in a press conference in Kfar Saba that there are no available details on where the bomber arrived from, Israel Radio quoted him as saying in a press conference.
He added that he supports the "establishment of more physical obstacles between Israel and the Palestinian areas."
The injured, meanwhile, were transferred to Meir Hospital in the city, said Haaretz, adding that two were in serious condition.
The No. 29 Egged bus, which was on the way from Kfar Saba to Herzliya, was on the corner of Weizman and Tchernichovsky Streets at the time of the explosion.
This is the third bomb explosion in the city in less than a month.
A week ago, a bomb exploded in the city injuring an Israeli man.
On March 28, two Israeli teenagers were killed along with a suicide bomber at a bus station near the city.
SHARON SAYS PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY BEARS RESPONSIBILITY FOR KFAR SABA BOMB
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday put the blame for the deadly bombing in Kfar Saba squarely on the shoulders of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
"Israel holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for the attack, because it is not working in accordance with the agreements it is committed to regarding foiling attacks of terror against Israel", Sharon said in a statement, quoted by AFP.
He stressed that the blast which killed the suicide bomber and a 53-year-old Israeli man near Tel Aviv came only hours after an Israeli-Palestinian security meeting aimed at putting an end to the deadly cycle of violence.
"Following the meeting held yesterday (Saturday), one would have expected that the PA work towards preventing terror attacks and condemn the present attack", the statement said.
He reiterated that his government's priority was to "restore security for Israelis".
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres also put the blame for the attack on the PA, said AFP.
"Stopping the attacks is the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority", Peres told journalists.
"The attack is a blow below the belt struck at Israel and peace, and finally struck also at the Palestinians", he said.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said earlier Sunday that the Palestinian Authority bore full responsibility for the bomb attack and said the culprits would "pay the price," AFP quoted him as saying.
"We have another bloody Sunday," said Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin.
"The full responsibility on what's happening lies with the Palestinian Authority and with their security forces," Gissin told AFP.
"They are supposed to stop terrorist activity. And what happened, not only don't they stop terrorist activity, they are now aiding and abetting and supporting the terrorist activity," he added.
Gissin said the perpetrators of the attack would "pay the price" but declined to say what action Israel was considering, according to the agency.
SECURITY MEETINGS WILL PROCEED
Despite the bombing, Israel and the Palestinians are scheduled to hold another security meeting in the coming days.
"It was decided during Saturday's security meeting that another one would be held discussing the West Bank specifically" a defense ministry spokesman told AFP.
The head of Palestinian intelligence, Amin al-Hindi said Sunday that both sides had agreed to meet again in such meetings but that no date had yet been decided upon.
Israel said early Sunday that it had reached an agreement with the Palestinians on measures to halt the unrest during a "positive" security meeting at the Erez crossing point in Gaza Saturday night, however, chief Palestinian negotiator emerged from the security meeting much less upbeat, said reports.
Sharon’s spokesman hailed the three-hour overnight security meeting with Palestinian representatives as "serious and positive," reported Haaretz newspaper.
The meeting, held near the Erez crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel, "was carried out in a serious and positive atmosphere," the spokesman said at the end of the meeting.
Israel was represented by the head of the Shin Bet, Avi Dichter, the head of planning at the General Staff, Major General Giora Eiland and the chief of the southern command, Doron Almog.
The Palestinians were represented by the head of the General Intelligence Service, Amin al-Hindi; and the head of national security in the Gaza Strip, General Abd al-Razeq al-Majaideh.
The two parties "decided to cooperate on a security plan and to apply measures aimed at putting an end to the violence and terrorism," as well as new measures to ease the restrictions on the Palestinian population, he added.
The paper said that Israeli and Palestinian commanders on the ground are expected to renew meetings Sunday.
However, Majaideh was much less enthusiastic, dismissing Israel's response to questions regarding incursions into Palestinian-run areas in the Gaza Strip as "insufficient," the paper quoted him as saying.
"The responses given by Israel were completely insufficient and do not satisfy the minimum demands" of the (Palestinian) population," the general said.
In a statement, she aid that the Palestinian delegation had handed over a list of Israeli violations of the autonomy accords.
This document cited the demolition of Palestinian buildings by Israeli bulldozers, the closure of road and border crossings, bombardment of Palestinian positions and the multiplication of Palestinian casualties of Israeli attacks.
In the letter, the Palestinian delegates decried recent Israeli "armed incursions" into Palestinian-controlled territory as well as operations targeted against Palestinian activists.
They demanded the resumption of the use of VIP cards to enable Palestinian leaders to travel freely and the reopening of the Rafah airport in the Gaza Strip, said the paper.
On April 16, the Israeli army mounted a major incursion into the Gaza Strip, sending in heavy tanks and bulldozers, after mortar shells were fired at the Israeli town of Sderot, in the south of the country.
The Palestinians affirmed that for their part they had "taken measures to reduce the violence, notably by banning all firing from populated (Palestinian) areas" towards Israeli targets.
However, the Palestinian side declared itself ready to "resume security cooperation" with Israel if their demands are satisfied.
According to them, the Israeli team was committed to giving a reply within two weeks on the reopening of the airport, Haaretz added.
SARID CANCELS MEETING WITH ARAFAT DUE TO ATTACK
Israel's Meretz party leader, Yossi Sarid, has cancelled a scheduled meeting with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Sunday.
In a statement to Israel's Army Radio, Sarid said that the cancellation comes as a result of the Kfar Saba blast.
He said he would rather not go on with the meeting under the circumstances.
MEMBER OF PALESTINE'S FORCE 17 DIES OF INJURIES SUNDAY
Member of the Palestinian presidential guards unit, Force 17, died of wounds suffered during an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip last week, hospital sources said Sunday, cited by AFP.
Madi Khalil Madi, 25, had been injured in the head and the stomach during the Israeli raid on Deir el-Balah, a spokesman at Gaza's Shifa hospital said.
Overnight, 12 Palestinians were injured during confrontations with Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, reported Haaretz.
Palestinian hospital officials said the 12 were wounded near the Palestinian-ruled Rafah in southern Gaza and the West Bank town of Qalqilya.
A mortar shell fired by Palestinians fell near the boundary of a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, an Israeli military spokesman said, adding that there were no casualties.
If confirmed, the attack would be the first of its kind since Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ordered an end to mortar attacks from Palestinian areas on both Israel proper and Jewish settlements.
The spokesman said the mortar shell fell just outside the boundary fence of the Netzarim settlement, said AFP.
Meanwhile, senior Israeli security officials expressed doubt that the Palestinian Authority had arrested 16 Hamas activists who had been involved in firing mortar shells into Israel, according to The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
They said they have no proof of the arrests.
They stated that in the past the PA had enacted a "revolving door" policy, which involved releasing prisoners a mere few days after their arrests were announced.
The security sources charged that the Palestinian Authority's head of Preventive Security in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Dahlan, was involved in the mortar shelling.
They went on to say that his deputy, Rashid Abu-Shabak, had distributed the mortars and bombs, manufactured in a PA factory in Gaza, to a number of organizations, including Hamas.
Apparently though, Hamas has done the bulk of the shooting into Israel while other organizations have shot mostly into settlements in Gaza.
BODY OF ISRAELI MAN FOUND NEAR RAMALLAH
The body of a 38-year-old Israeli man, Stanislav Sandomirski, was found in the trunk of his car late Saturday night, near the West Bank village of Surda in the Ramallah area, reported Haaretz.
There were signs of physical violence on Sandomirski's body and police suspect that the motive for the murder was "nationalistic."
Surda is in Area B, which is under joint Israeli-Palestinian control - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
