Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday gave Foreign Minister Shimon Peres the go-ahead to negotiate a new ceasefire with the Palestinians, but not to talk with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, a source close to the government told AFP.
Peres was given the green light to meet senior Palestinian officials, if accompanied by an Israeli general, in order to carry out talks on restoring a failed ceasefire, but not to hold political talks, the source said.
Ealier, at least 16 people were injured in a suicide bombing in a coffee shop in the Kiryat Motzkin suburb of Haifa in northern Israel Sunday, Israeli public radio said.
At least five of those wounded were in critical conditions, while dozens were treated for shock, hospital sources told the radio station.
In a statement faxed to Albawaba.com by the Islamic Jihad rsistance movement, the group claimed responsibility for the attack.
It identified the fighter as Mohammad Mahmoud Nassr, 28, from Qabatya near Jenin in the West Bank.
The group vowed that "more martyrdom attackers are on the way."
Other reports said the wounded numbered “dozens.” Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, claimed there were fatalities.
Abu Dhabi TV station's correspondent said that the Israeli authorities hushed up the actual number of casualties.
Eyewitnesses living 100 meters from the site said that severe damage was caused to the front of the restaurant, and thus ruled out the possibility that it was gas cylinders that exploded, because they are stored in the back of the building.
Ambulances were seen rushing to the scene of the blast in the Wall Street Cafe, where the explosion occurred just three days after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and 15 other people in a crowded Jerusalem pizzeria.
In response, Egypt said that only a political solution would end the crisis, and Baghdad hailed the attack.
Meanwhile, AFP reported that a seven-year-old Palestinian girl was in critical condition Sunday after an Israeli bullet hit her in the head in a firefight in the West Bank town of Hebron that left six other Palestinians and two Israeli police injured, Palestinian hospital officials said.
The girl was hit in an exchange of fire in the flashpoint town where around 400 Jewish settlers live under heavy Israeli army protection, surrounded by around 120,000 Palestinian residents.
The army said two police officers were slightly injured in the shooting near the centre of the town, the scene of regular clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians.
Palestinian security said the firing had been going on for more than an hour and was still underway at 8:30pm (1730 GMT).
AFP's latest death tally for the Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation comes out to 13 Arab Israelis, 547 Palestinians, and 146 Israelis, putting the ratio of casualties at around four Palestinians killed for every Israeli loss. Israeli wounded number in the high hundreds, while the Palestine Red Crescent Society puts the number of Palestinians injured at over 14,000.
Amnesty International reported early this year that almost 100 Palestinian children had been killed by Israeli soldiers, nearly all in situations where the occupation troops were under no immediate threat - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
