NEW SUICIDE BOMBING IN ISRAEL MARRED ARAB SUMMIT
NETANYA (Israel)- BEIRUT 27 Mar. (IPS) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people and injured at least 130 on Wednesday in the crowded dining room of a popular seaside hotel during festivities that marks the start of the Jewish religious holiday of Passover. At least 26 of the injured were described as "severely wounded."
Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority immediately condemned the massacre and promised to do everything to stop suicide operations against civilians.
Ra'anan Gissin
, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, termed the attack a "Passover massacre" and said the government would use all "necessary measures" to stop further terrorist attacks."The Israeli government would not continue to tolerate the wave of suicide attacks", Gissin warned, stressing that Yasser Arafat must bring militants under control before peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis could resume.
"There ain't going to be any negotiations under fire", Gissin said.
U.S. President George W. Bush immediately condemned the attack.
"This callous, cold-blooded killing must stop. I call upon Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to do everything in their power to stop the terrorist killing, because there are people in the Middle East who would rather kill than have peace", President Bush said, speaking at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which has a military wing that has carried out attacks on Israeli civilians and military targets during the 18-month intifada, claimed responsibility for the attack in Netanya, near the West Bank.
A spokesman for Hamas, Usama Hamdan, told CNN in a televised interview after the attack: "We are not talking now about eliminating Israel, we are talking about what Israel is doing. They are killing our people, they are destroying our homes, they are attacking us with all they have, the American weapons they have.
The bombing came a day after Israel ignored U.S. pressure to lift a travel ban on Arafat and let him attend the Beirut summit without preconditions. Arafat rejected Israel's terms, which included a cease-fire and an Israeli right to veto his return to the West Bank, saying it was "humiliating and illegal".
Pressured by other Arab states whose support the United States is seeking for extending the war on terrorism, Washington had pushed for Arafat to go to Beirut as a way to keep the focus on the peace plan.
The failure of the effort undermines U.S. credibility in the Arab world, according to Arab political analysts.
Wednesday's attack took place on the first day of the Arab League summit in Beirut, where the ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis was the primary focus.
Speaking at his home in Gaza City, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas told CNN "this attack and other attacks are a message to the Arab summit to confirm that the Palestinian people continue to struggle for the land and to defend themselves no matter what measures the enemy takes."
"The Palestinians will continue their struggle against Israel until they reach their goals, and the main goal for the Palestinians now [is] to repatriate their lands, to return back to their lands, to have their own state."
He also said Israelis "have to expect those attacks from everywhere, from every Palestinian group".
The Arab Summit opened Wednesday in turmoil, with the notable absence of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah and Arafat as well as the leaders of Iraq, Libya and Persian Gulf sheikhdoms.
The Palestinian delegation walked out, accusing Lebanese President Emile Lahoud of preventing Arafat from addressing the meeting by satellite link-up.
But the Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassam Salameh said Wednesday that Lebanon had refused to transmit the live speech by Mr. Arafat to the Summit from the West bank city of Ramallah where he is held as a virtual prisoner by Mr.Sharon because the Palestinians would not wait their turn in the official queue.
The blocking of the speech sparked furious protests by representatives of other Arab countries attending the conference, including Saudi Crown Prince Abdollah bin Abdul Aziz, who urged the Lebanese president to officially apologise to the Palestinian leader, who had refused to accept Israeli Prime Minister’s conditions set for him to travel to Beirut.
However, informed sources told Iran Press Service that the Lebanese organiser of the Summit blocked the broadcast on orders from their Syrian boss, Bashar Asad, who, like his father, is loathing the Palestinian leader since he agreed to the Oslo Agreement, almost killed by the Israelis.
At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said the Summit was making progress, citing what he said was a "very positive" speech by Crown Prince Abdullah.
Topping the agenda of the two-day meeting is a Saudi proposal for normal relations with Israel in exchange for a withdrawal from Arab territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war and a solution to the refugee question.
"I propose that the Arab League puts forward a clear and collective Arab project to the (United Nations) Security Council", Prince Abdollah said.
He added that the "project is based on two essential points: normal relations and security for Israel, in return for the complete withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories, the recognition of an independent Palestinian state with its capital east Jerusalem and the return of the (Palestinian) refugees."
The crown prince said "allow me to ... to directly address the Israeli people, to say to them that the use of violence, for more that 50 years, has only resulted in more violence and destruction.
"The Israeli people are as far as they have ever been from security and peace," he said.
Addressing the opening ceremonies, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to reaffirm the "strategic choice of peace".
"It is their role, and their duty, to lead their peoples back from the brink. History, and their peoples, will judge them harshly if they do not," he said.
Annan also called on Arab leaders at the two-day summit to back the "important proposal" put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz last month.
Annan said the Saudi proposal could be the "foundation" for peace based on the land-for-peace principle, as "it provides a clear and compelling vision."
"Every one of these bombings sets us back", said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell after Wednesday's bombing. He added that it also brings a new sense of "determination" to negotiate peace in the Middle East.
But Powell indicated Washington would stick with the Zinni mission for now. "Every one of these bombings sets us back but at the same time it renews our determination", he said.
The latest attack came amid intense international efforts to lay the groundwork for a cease-fire. U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni was in Israel Wednesday pushing for the implementation of a plan calling for a cease-fire and a resumption of negotiations, and Saudi Arabia officially unveiled a peace proposal at the Arab League summit in Beirut, Lebanon.
However, despite a call issued by Palestinian leaders last week for an end to terror attacks inside Israel, suicide bombings by Palestinian groups have continued.
Israeli security sources said Wednesday evening that the attack would have far-reaching consequences on the conflict with the Palestinian Authority.
According to the sources, quoted by Ha’aretz daily, Israel will end the policy of restraint it has undertaken in the past week due to the Zinni efforts. "Israel responded positively to all of the American envoy's proposals," the sources said. "What happened in Netanya is likely to significantly change the picture."
"The attack will require us to re-evaluate our overall policy", Gissin confirmed, adding "We are still working to achieve a cease-fire to which we are fully committed, but if the Palestinians have decided to choose the road of terrorism... then we have to decide what measures we will take". ENDS PALESTINE ISRAEL ENTEHARI 27302