|
|
| By israelinsider staff and partners December 5, 2005 |
|
| |
 |
| AP |
| |
A suicide bomber exploded outside the Sharon mall in the coastal city of Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, killing five people and wounding more than fifty, at least 3 in critical condition.
Ami Klein, a lawyer who witnessed the explosion from a nearby courthouse, told Israel Radio that the bomber tried to enter the mall but was prevented by a guard and policemen. "The boom shook the entire courthouse," Klein said.
Police said the bomber blew himself up near an entrance where shoppers undergo a routine security check.
Police and security guards spotted the bomber and pushed him up against a wall, officials said. "Just as police were going to check him, he put his hand in a bag and blew up," Avi Sasson, a deputy police commander, told Israel Radio.
The blast shattered windows and pocked the outside of the brown, multistory building. Pieces of concrete were ripped off the facade, blood stained the base of the building and debris was scattered on the sidewalk.
"I heard a huge bomb. It felt like my head was exploding. I turned around and I saw a red ball of fire, and then I ran," said Masouda Israel, a 67-year-old woman who was in Netanya for a doctor's appointment. "You see these things on TV, but when you're there, it's totally different."
One body lay on the ground, its blackened legs sticking out from under a blanket, while another lay nearby under a sheet. Emergency workers hurriedly pushed wheeled stretchers with the wounded toward waiting ambulances. Ultra-Orthodox rescue crews sifted through debris for body parts, and police shut down the city, snarling traffic.
Sharon has repeatedly said that long deadlocked peace negotiations cannot resume until militant violence stops, and Monday's attack was likely to set back renewed efforts to return to the internationally sponsored "road map" peace talks in the wake of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September.
"The grave attack in Netanya is more proof of the ineffectiveness of the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Abu Mazen," said Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, referring to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. "Israel will act against the terror organizations with all its might and all the means at its disposal. Israel's response will be hard and painful."
In Ramallah, Abbas condemned the attack and promised an especially harsh response by his security forces.
"This operation ... against civilians causes the most serious harm to our commitment to the peace process and the Palestinian Authority will not go easy on whoever is proved to be responsible for this operation," said a statement issued by Abbas' office.
The Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with PA leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, took credit for the attack.
"The movement continues to be committed to the calm, but will respond to every crime and violation committed by Israel, such as the targeted killings of members in the past few days and the killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip," the al-Aksa spokeman said.
But Israeli defense sources said they believed the attack was carried out by the Islamic Jihad terror group, and Jihad took credit for the attack in a phone call to Palestinian journalists.
In the past, more than one terror groups have taken credit for the same attack.
In a phone call to the AP, Islamic Jihad identified the attacker as Lotfi Abu Saada, from the village of Illar, north of the West Bank town of Tulkarem. A video released by the group showed the bomber posing with a grenade launcher and an assault rifle.
Relatives described Abu Saada, 23, as a primary-school dropout who was illiterate and exploited by his handlers. "My son is a poor soul. He doesn't know anything about this," said his mother, Amina.
Islamic Jihad has carried out all four previous suicide bombings since a cease-fire declaration last February. The group said it reserves the right to retaliate for any perceived Israeli violations.
Deputy Public Security Minister Yaakov Edri told Israel Radio that there had been no specific warnings ahead of the attack.
David Baker, a spokesman in the Prime Minister's Office, said the attack was the result of the Palestinian Authority's refusal to dismantle the terrorist organizations in the territories.
"The Palestinian Authority refuses to take necessary steps to prevent terror, including dismantling of terror infrastructure, incarceration of terrorists and we saw the result today in Netanya," he told Haaretz. "There can be no substitute for these steps. The PA adamantly refuses to implement such step."
Senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat condemned the attack, saying it detracted from the Palestinian cause. "I believe that this harms Palestinian interests and is another act to sabotage efforts to revive the peace process and to sabotage the Palestinian elections," Erekat said, referring to a parliamentary vote set for January.
With Israeli elections planned for March 28, pressure could mount on Sharon for an even tougher response. Sharon left his hardline Likud to form a new centrist party two weeks ago, saying it would give him more freedom to seek a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Israeli columnist Gershom Gorenberg said Monday's blast was likely to cause Sharon to "emphasize the hardline or the more military side of his personality" ahead of the vote. "In many ways the Palestinians have the fate of the (Israeli) political process in their hands right now," he added.
The coastal city, and the mall specifically, has been a frequent target of suicide bombings in the past five years of violence.
In July 2005 five people were killed when an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber blew up there.
Netanya also suffered one of the deadliest bombings over the past five years, an attack on a ritual Passover meal at a hotel March 27, 2002, that killed 29 people. The attack sparked Operation Defensive Shield, during which Israel retook control Palestinian towns and cities in more than two weeks of bloody fighting.
The AP contributed to this report.
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
