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Israeli rescuers and policemen inspect the site where a suicide bomber attacked Sunday. >>>>>
First suicide bomb since Gaza pullout hospitalizes 40
BEERSHEBA, Israel - About 40 people went to the hospital after a Palestinian blew himself up while trying to board a bus Sunday in the first suicide attack since the evacuation of settlers from the Gaza Strip, puncturing hopes that the historic pullout would break the cycle of violence.
The vast majority of those hospitalized from the attack in this southern Israel town suffered from shock, although two security guards were critically wounded, medical sources said.
A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the central bus station in this southern Israeli city during morning rush hour Sunday, critically wounding two security guards in the first attack since Israel began its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip this month.
More serious carnage appeared to have been averted after security at the city's main terminus prevented the attacker from boarding.
The attack comes almost exactly a year to the day after 15 Israelis were killed in a twin attack on two buses in Beersheba.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack but it came just four days after five militants were killed by Israeli troops during an arrest operation in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.
Sunday's attack occurred in a dirt parking lot about 100 yards from the bus station, which was crowded with morning rush-hour travelers. Witnesses said the two security guards halted the bomber, preventing a much larger attack. The guards were critically injured with burns and shrapnel wounds.
The bus driver who alerted security said he had challenged the bomber as he looked suspicious."He was very pale so I warned the guards," Eli Horech told AFP.
Israel's Internal Security minister Gideon Ezra said that the action of the bus driver and two security guards "had averted a major disaster".
According to the Associated Press, taxi driver Itzik Ohana said he was waiting for customers in the lot when he saw the bomber, a man about 20, who had short hair and was dragging a heavy bag and sweating. The man frequently stopped to put the bag down and rest.
Ohana said he told a security guard about the suspicious-looking man and called the police. "While I was talking to the police there was an explosion," he said.
The bombing raised pressure on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to crack down on militant groups. Israel has said any progress in peacemaking after the Gaza withdrawal will require Abbas to disarm the militants — a step he so far has been unwilling to take.
Abbas denounced the bombing as a "terror attack," and called on Israel to show restraint and continue to respect a shaky, six-month-old cease-fire. "We condemn such attacks. We don't accept them, and we call on everyone to refrain from retaliation," he said.
However, Israel had to expect the consequence of its "crime" in Tulkarem, said Jibril Rajub, Abbas' national security advisor.
"Israel must know that if it continues with this state terrorism it will lead to more violence in the region," Jibril Rajub told AFP.
Ezra said Israel would "not hesitate to respond" to the attack which he said underlined how "the Palestinian Authority must dismantle the terrorist groups."But he also expressed hope that it would not herald a start to a new round of bloodshed."I think and I hope that this attack does not mark the start of a wave of terrorism," Ezra told AFP at the scene of the blast.
In a speech on the eve of the start of the forcible evacuation of settlers from Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned of an unprecedented response if attacks continued.
Sharon has argued that his controversial pullout of settlers and troops, the first time that Israel has ever left occupied Palestinian territory, would improve the security of Israelis.Right-wing critics however claimed that it encourages militant groups who have been portraying the pullout as an act of surrender.
Groups such as Islamic Jihad and the larger Hamas movement are meant to be observing a truce agreement.However, while there has been a significant decline in Palestinian attacks since the start of the year, the truce has been less than watertight.
Five Israelis were killed on July 13 when an Islamic Jihad activist blew himself up near a shopping mall in the coastal city of Netanya.
The pullout of settlers from Gaza, which was completed last Monday, passed off largely peacefully with Israeli authorities expressing their satisfaction with the levels of security cooperation from the Palestinian Authority.
While nearly all soldiers were due to be withdrawn from Gaza as part of the so-called disengagement plan, Israel had intended to keep a small contingent on the Rafah border which has been a major conduit of arms smuggling. However Egypt and Israel have been locked in discussions for several months in order that Egyptian soldiers take responsibility for the border in the aftermath of the pullout.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has said he expects all Israeli troops to have left the territory by mid-September after which control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is expected to be handed over to the Egyptian authorities.
Sharon's cabinet on Sunday approved an agreement to allow the deployment of some Egyptian 750 armed border guards along the Rafah crossing which has been a major conduit for weapons smuggling.The deployment will be put before the parliamentary plenum on Wednesday in a vote where it is expected to be approved.
Meanwhile the Palestinian cabinet met in the West Bank town of Abu Dis, which lies on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in a symbolic protest at Israel's attempts to cement its grip on the holy city.Last week, Israel announced plans to build a new police headquarters near Maale Adumim, the largest West Bank settlement where it had already sparked U.S. anger with another project to build 3,500 new homes.
Prime minister Ahmed Qorei said that Israel's settlement drive and its construction of a separation barrier in the region were leaving Palestinians living in the east of the city in "ghettos"."All these things do not leave any room for the creation of a viable Palestinian state," Qorei told reporters after the meeting.
USA Today ~ Agence France-Presse / Associated Press ** First suicide bomb since Gaza pullout hospitalizes 40
Posted by uhyw
at 11:15 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, August 28, 2005 11:23 AM EDT
