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AL QUDS, May 18: Seven people plus two bombers were killed in a double suicide attack which also wounded 20 people in east Al Quds early on Sunday, Israeli public radio reported.
A first bomber blew apart a number 6 bus just before the morning rush hour in the French Hill neighbourhood in east Al Quds.
Minutes later, another bomber blew himself up in the nearby Palestinian village of Aram, killing only himself.
The bombings were the first in Al Quds in six months and the first inside Israel since a British bomber killed three people and himself in an attack on a seafront pub in Tel Aviv on April 30.
Israeli-Palestinian peace seemed remote as ever on Sunday prompting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to put off a crucial trip to Washington.
ARAFAT BLAMED: Israel blamed Yasser Arafat for abetting hardline groups in a bid to scuttle peace efforts led by his rival prime minister Mahmud Abbas, sparking fears of a large Israeli operation against the Palestinian leader who is trapped in Ramallah.
The blasts came hours after Sharon had his first talks with Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas on implementing an international peace plan known as the roadmap, which ended inconclusively.
Police Chief Shlomo Aharonishki said the first bomber was disguised as an Orthodox Jew and that a skullcap and prayer shawl were found on him.
He told reporters that the second assailant was caught in the security net set up in the area and only killed himself when he detonated his bomb.
The worst spate of anti-Israeli attacks this year prompted Sharon to postpone a trip to Washington, where he was due to meet US President George W. Bush and hold crucial talks on the roadmap, which Israel has refused to accept without changes.
According to Israeli public radio, Sharon decided not to leave the country on Sunday in order “to personally supervise the fight against terrorism”.
CURFEW IMPOSED: A curfew was slapped on the nearby West Bank city of Ramallah just after the bombings and Sharon convened an emergency meeting of his cabinet to decide what action to take.
Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner accused Arafat of forming an alliance with Islamic activists to sabotage Abbas’ efforts to end the violence and resume talks within the framework of the roadmap.
“It is in Yasser Arafat’s interest to hamper his rival Abu Mazen, to prove he cannot govern, and for that purpose he has formed an alliance with Hamas and Jihad, in an attempt to stop the revival of the peace process with terrorist acts,” Pazner charged.
Palestinian information minister Nabil Amr condemned the attacks and urged Israel to exercise restraint in its response.
Abbas, during his first meeting with the Israeli premier since being sworn in on April 30, had given him assurances that the Palestinian side would make a “real and sincere effort” to curb militant groups, Sharon’s office said.
An earlier statement issued by Amr said Abbas had urged Israel to officially accept the blueprint, stressing he could not start implementing it without full Israeli approval.
There was no official claim for the attacks, but the family of a 19-year-old from Al Khalil with ties to Hamas said the teenager was most likely the bomber.
Hours after the two settlers were killed in the Al Khalil attack, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians who infiltrated a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank.
Violence also continued in the Gaza Strip, with an 18-year-old Palestinian shot dead by Israeli troops early on Sunday in the southern city of Khan Yunis, Palestinian security sources said.
The killing came as the Israeli army was still reoccupying some areas of the northern Gaza Strip, in a bid to further dismantle local groups and stem rocket attacks on settlements and army positions inside the strip as well as nearby Israeli towns.
Ten Palestinians were injured in fresh clashes with the army on Sunday, Palestinian medical sources said.—AFP
