http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43847-2003Oct4?language=printerSuicide Blast in Northern Israel Kills 19
By PETER ENAV
The Associated Press
Saturday, October 4, 2003; 1:17 PM
HAIFA, Israel - A Palestinian woman blew herself up in a crowded seaside restaurant at lunchtime Saturday, killing 19 people including three children. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the past three years, prompting new calls for Yasser Arafat's expulsion.
About 40 people were wounded in the attack on the Maxim Restaurant, co-owned by Arabs and Jews in the Mediterranean port of Haifa, an ethnically mixed and tolerant city but also a frequent target for suicide attackers - perhaps because they can easily blend in. Both Arabs and Jews were at the restaurant at the time.
The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing and said the attacker was 20 years old. The Sabbath attack also came a day ahead of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his advisers for an emergency meeting, and Israel Radio quoted his army chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, as saying there would be a "harsh" response to the bombing after nightfall Saturday.
On Sept. 11, the Israeli Cabinet decided to "remove" Arafat, implying expulsion or assassination. Sharon has hinted that Israel might act against the Palestinian leader in response to an attack with many casualties.
The United States opposes expelling Arafat, and Israel's security chiefs are divided on the issue.
A senior U.S. official said last week that Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom had told Secretary of State Colin Powell that Israel would consult with the United States before acting against Arafat. By midday Saturday, the same official said, Israel had made no such approaches to Washington.
Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz have the final say and do not need Cabinet approval to take action against Arafat; Mofaz has spoken in favor of expulsion.
Israeli Health Minister Dan Naveh said Israel must not hesitate. "This awful attack today is definitely an opportunity, the correct opportunity, to implement the Cabinet decision to get rid of Arafat," he said. "It is clear to all of us that he is the biggest obstacle to reach better days."
President Bush condemned the Haifa bombing, as did British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"The new Palestinian cabinet must dedicate itself to dismantling the infrastructure of terror and preventing the kind of murderous actions that we witnessed today," Bush said in a statement.
The chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel, Saeb Erekat, said he is "worried about an Israeli action against President Arafat or against the Palestinian people that may just add to the complexities."
The explosion went off shortly after 2 p.m. at Maxim Restaurant, near a major junction at the southern entrance to Haifa. Police said 20 people were killed, including the attacker.
"There were not a lot of wounded, just a lot of people strewn on the ground. There was nothing to do, no way to help them," said a motorist who went to the scene, identified only as Navon. He said several children were among the dead.
The blast blew out windows. Walls inside were riddled with holes, wires dangled from the ceiling, and clusters of pipes were exposed. Chunks were blown off pillars throughout the restaurant.
Saturday's bombing brought to 103 the number of suicide bombings in the past three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. At least 431 people have been killed in these attacks.
Some reports said the bomber shot and killed a security guard at the entrance before rushing into the restaurant. If confirmed, would be a change in tactics. In the past, several bombers were stopped outside restaurants, cafes and shopping malls by security guards. Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishki said it was not clear whether shots were fired. However, a person dressed in the reflective vest commonly worn by security guards was seen lying face down on the front steps.
The incoming Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, condemned Saturday's bombing as an "ugly attack" and urged Palestinian groups to stop violence against civilians. Qureia also called the Haifa mayor, Yona Yahav, to express his condemnation.
David Baker, an official in Sharon's office, said the blast shows that "the Palestinian Authority continues to refuse to take even minimal steps against the terrorist infrastructure."
The attack came despite a blanket closure Israel had imposed Friday on the West Bank and Gaza Strip ahead of Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown Sunday and ends at sundown Monday. Such closures are generally imposed during Jewish holidays because of increased concerns about attacks by Palestinian militants in such periods.
It was the first suicide bombing since twin attacks killed 15 people on Sept. 9, near an army base outside Tel Aviv and at a Jerusalem coffee shop. Those attacks prompted the Cabinet's threat against Arafat.
Earlier, the violent Hamas group declared that a security barrier Israel is building around the West Bank would not stop suicide bombers. The militant group also said it would continue to send Palestinians to blow themselves up inside Israel.
"This wall will not protect the Zionist entity and will not stop the attacks of resistance and, God willing, the day will come when this wall will collapse as the Berlin wall collapsed," said a statement, signed by Hamas, posted on a pro-Hamas Web site late Friday night.
Earlier this week, the Israeli Cabinet approved a new phase of the barrier project that will add fences deep inside the West Bank to shield four large Jewish settlements. Palestinians and the United States have opposed the path of the barrier, saying it would pre-empt peace agreements and unilaterally define the border of a Palestinian state.
Israeli officials have said wide gaps would be left - for now - between the new fences and the main barrier being built closer to Israel's frontier with the West Bank. Connecting the fences would slice the West Bank in half.
About one-fourth of the barrier project has already been built in the northern West Bank. In places, it runs close to Israel; elsewhere it dips farther into the West Bank, isolating several Palestinian villages and cutting some residents off from their land.
Israel says the barrier is essential to try to stop Palestinian suicide bombers and other attackers from reaching Israel, where they've killed hundreds over the past three years.
In an interview published Saturday in the Washington Post, Powell said Israel's effort to dampen criticism by leaving gaps in the new fence was unsatisfactory.
He indicated that the route should stick to the "green line," the frontier between Israel and the West Bank before the 1967 Mideast War.
© 2003 The Associated Press
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