Iranian leader: Wipe Israel "off map"

Disrupting a period of relative calm, a suicide bomber Wednesday killed five people in Israel. The attack came hours after Iran's new president called for Israel's annihilation.

The news for Israel wasn't all bad. A U.N. report on Syrian aid to Palestinian guerrillas appeared to bolster U.S. efforts for international sanctions on one of Israel's major adversaries.

In the northern Israeli town of Hadera, a Palestinian suicide bomber slipped into a line at a falafel stand and blew himself up in a crowded outdoor market.

Hours earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Israel is a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."

Iran has supported several violent Palestinian groups, including Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for Wednesday's blast, saying it was revenge for Israel's killing on Monday of Luay Saadi, a leader of its armed wing in the West Bank.

Israel said Saadi headed a cell responsible for bombings this year at a Tel Aviv nightclub and a shopping mall in the northern Israeli city of Netanya that killed 10 people, and said Saadi had been helping plan another attack.

The killing of Saadi triggered rocket attacks into Israel by militants in the Gaza Strip, and on Wednesday. Israel responded with artillery and air strikes on what the army described as open areas that were used to launch rockets.

The suicide bombing was the first in Israel since Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip last month, and it dealt a blow to hopes that the pullout would create an improved climate for renewed peace efforts.

The withdrawal was coordinated by Israelis and Palestinians, but eruptions of violence since then suggest that militants and Israeli forces are lapsing into a pattern of attack and retaliation that fueled five years of fighting. A truce declared in February had sharply reduced violence, but did not halt it entirely.

The bomber was identified as Hassan Abu Zeid, 21, from the town of Kabatiya, near Jenin in the northern West Bank. Palestinians said he recently completed a sentence in an Israeli jail.

Police said the bomber joined the line of people waiting to buy falafel, deep-fried balls of chickpeas that are tucked into pita bread — a snack equally popular with Israelis and Palestinians.

The victims included Israeli Arabs who live in towns and villages near Hadera and regularly come into the city to work and shop.

Palestinian officials swiftly condemned the bombing. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that the attack "could widen the cycle of violence, chaos, extremism and bloodshed."

The attack was the third fatal suicide bombing inside Israel this year, all carried out by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian faction that, like its larger cousin Hamas, rejects Israel's right to exist.

Iran has supported several violent Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, with support and training through proxies among Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

Ahmadinejad's speech to thousands of students at a "World without Zionism" conference set a hard-line foreign policy course sharply at odds with that of his moderate predecessor. Ahmadinejad, who became president in August, replaced Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who advocated international dialogue and tried to improve relations with the West.

Israel has been at the forefront of nations calling for an end to Iran's nuclear program, which the United States and many others in the West say is aimed at acquiring weapons of mass destruction. Iran insists the program is for generating electricity.

Referring to Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in Israel, Ahmadinejad said: "There is no doubt that the new wave in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot from the face of the Islamic world."

Reacting to the Iranian president's speech, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Ahmadinejad and Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar "speak openly about destroying the Jewish state ... and it appears the problem with these extremists is that they followed through on their violent declarations with violent actions."

Syria also was criticized Wednesday for not stopping the flow of weapons and Palestinian militants into Lebanon. A U.N. report said that was one reason why the Lebanese government has made no significant progress in disbanding and disarming militias that operate with impunity inside its borders.

The report said that despite some positive steps, Lebanon still has not achieved full "sovereignty and political independence" more than six months after Syria withdrew its troops and intelligence apparatus from its neighbor following a 29-year presence.

That conclusion could be a powerful tool for the United States, France and Britain, which have proposed a Security Council resolution that threatens sanctions if Syria doesn't cooperate with a separate probe into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.

The report was assessing the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, which called for Syria to withdraw all military forces and intelligence operatives as well as the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, a pro-Syrian guerrilla group with a strong political faction, has almost complete control in southern Lebanon where it clashes frequently with Israeli troops on the two countries' border. Lebanese authorities generally stay out of Palestinian refugee camps, where many of the weapons from Syria end up.

The report praised Lebanon for making some efforts to clamp down on the Palestinian militant groups, some of which have headquarters in Syria. Earlier Wednesday, the Lebanese military surrounded a mountain militia base linked to weapons smugglers and deployed hundreds of soldiers to another camp after the killing of a Lebanese contractor.

Compiled from The Associated Press, Knight Ridder Newspapers and Los Angeles Times reports.