Suicide blast hits Tel Aviv area; Islamic Jihad official assassinated

By John Ward Anderson and Molly Moore
The Washington Post

	URIEL SINAI / GETTY IMAGES Israeli rescuers remove a body at the scene where a suicide bomber blew himself up yesterday. Four Israelis were killed in the attack at a bus stop in a Tel Aviv suburb.
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The Christmas Day violence punctuated a two-week period in which Israeli military forces have accelerated incursions in the Palestinian territories, Egyptian officials resumed efforts to negotiate a cease-fire among armed Palestinian groups, and Israeli and Palestinian officials were trying to arrange the long-delayed first official meeting between their prime ministers.

Israeli officials said that despite an appearance of calm in the country over the past few months, Palestinians had attempted several attacks during that period that were foiled by Israeli security forces. The assassination in Gaza yesterday of Mokled Humaid, Islamic Jihad's military leader, was ordered, officials said, because he was helping to plan a massive attack to be conducted inside Israel. Military officials refused to specify any details of that planned attack.

In addition to Humaid, another person in the car and four bystanders were killed, and 12 people were wounded, Palestinian security officials said. Witnesses reported that the sidewalks and streets were crowded with pedestrians.

Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, lamented the renewed violence and called for efforts to revive peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, which have been stalled for months.

"We've seen a very sad Christmas Day for Israelis and Palestinians again," Erekat said. "What happened today in Gaza and Tel Aviv shows the importance ... of resuming negotiations. I urge President Bush to take matters into his own hands."

In Bnei Brak, a suicide bomber casually strode into the midst of a group of people near one of several bus stops at a major highway interchange east of Tel Aviv, according to witnesses and Israeli police officials.

The assailant, who one witness said was carrying a small bag and wearing a dark coat, exploded a bomb packed with metal fragments.

Three uniformed Israeli soldiers — two women and one man — and an Israeli civilian woman died from injuries sustained in the explosion, police and hospital officials said. Fifteen people, including at least one Palestinian, were wounded and hospitalized, according to hospital officials.

The bus stop is near a gathering spot for Palestinians, many of whom enter Israeli illegally in search of work. As soon as the blast occurred, many Palestinians in the area fled for fear of being accused of involvement in the attack, witnesses said.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack in telephone calls to several news-media offices in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The communiqués said the attack was retaliation for the slaying of two of the group's members by Israeli military forces in the West Bank city of Nablus last week.

The group identified the bomber as Saed Hanani, 18, who had been living with relatives in Nablus.

Palestinian security officials in Nablus said Hanani was related to one of the two slain Popular Front members. At least eight Palestinians were killed during a nine-day Israeli military operation that ended Tuesday, according to Palestinian security officials.

Yesterday's attack at the bus stop was the first suicide bombing inside Israel since Oct. 4, when a female lawyer from the West Bank city of Jenin detonated a bomb inside a seafront restaurant in the city of Haifa, killing 21 people.

"We've been saying the quiet we've had in the last weeks has been a false quiet, and we've seen that today," said an Israeli military spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal. "The reason it's been quiet is that we've been able to thwart many of the attacks. Since Oct. 4 we foiled at least 35 attacks — at least 22 of them suicide bombings."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has warned the Palestinian Authority that if it does not curb terrorist attacks, Israel will unilaterally establish what he called a security border between the West Bank and Israel.

Palestinian officials argue that incursions such as those in Nablus in recent days and targeted killings such as the one yesterday in Gaza make it difficult to control militant organizations.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia has been unable to negotiate a cease-fire with armed Palestinian groups, although in recent weeks some of the organizations claimed to have curbed suicide-bombing attacks against Israelis and — until yesterday — Israel had curtailed its targeted killings of senior Palestinian militants.

Ten minutes before the suicide bombing, Israeli troops using AH-64 Apache helicopters fired at a white car in the northern Gaza City neighborhood of Saftawi, killing Humaid, the Islamic Jihad leader, according to witnesses and Palestinian security officials.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking at a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony, said Humaid was targeted because he was responsible for planning a "mega-attack" inside Israel. Mofaz and other military officials declined to say where they believed the attack was going to occur or what type of attack was planned.

Humaid had headed Islamic Jihad's military wing throughout the 3-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israel.

"If Israel wants to stop attacks against their civilians, the people should pressure their government to stop attacking our civilians," Mohammad Hindi, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad, said yesterday on the Arabic television network Al-Jazeera.

After yesterday's violence, the Israeli military shut off all travel between Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to a military spokeswoman.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company