A suicide bomber Wednesday blasted apart a bus on a highway in northern Israel, killing seven passengers and injuring 27 others but failing to derail cease-fire talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni maintained his schedule of talks Wednesday despite sharp Israeli criticism of the Palestinian side. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the early-morning attack in a predominantly Israeli Arab region near the city of Afula.
“Arafat has not changed his policy of terror at this stage. He has not taken any steps,” Sharon said after separate meetings with Zinni and with his own security Cabinet.
But Israel said it would not retaliate immediately for the attack, which claimed four Israeli soldiers among its victims, and a key meeting among Zinni and security chiefs for both sides went ahead as scheduled. Those talks ended Wednesday night without agreement on a truce, Israel Radio reported. Another session would be held in the coming days, the report said.
Hopes that a cease-fire could be reached quickly dimmed after the bus bombing, the deadliest attack since Zinni arrived in Israel last week.
“People were blown out of the windows and were lying on the road on both sides of the bus,” said bus driver Yosef Ben Yosef. “Inside, dead and wounded people were lying everywhere. … It was ghastly, indescribable.”
The commuter bus stops at many Arab villages, and several Arab Israelis were among the wounded. A large number of Israeli soldiers also travel the route from largely Jewish Tel Aviv on the coast to the mainly Arab town of Nazareth in Galilee.
Bomber was 24
Islamic Jihad, which said it organized the terrorist act, identified the bomber as 24-year-old Rafat Abu Diyak of Jenin. The West Bank town was among those targeted by Israeli troops during recent raids aimed at arresting militants and preventing terrorist acts.
Islamic Jihad, which opposes any peace process, said the bombing was to avenge the killing of its members during those Israeli incursions.
Sharon vowed that Israel would “take necessary steps” against such attacks. Hours later, however, the Israeli army gave no sign of retaliating.
That silence was an unexpected and telling pause for Israel, indicating that even uncertain prospects for a cease-fire in the bloody 18-month-old intifada outweighed the desire for immediate reprisals.
Israel’s restraint came a day after Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to Jerusalem to urge both sides to agree to a cease-fire plan outlined last year by CIA Director George Tenet.
Cheney returned to Washington on Wednesday after ending his 11-nation tour of the region with a swing through Turkey. He held out the possibility of meeting with Arafat if the Palestinian leader agrees to a cease-fire and Zinni concludes that the conditions are right. The meeting could come as early as Monday, a U.S. official said.
Aspect of Tenet plan
Under the Tenet plan, the Palestinians would be required to arrest militants and confiscate arms, and Israeli troops would have to withdraw to positions held in Palestinian areas before the uprising began in September 2000. Once those steps are accomplished, peace talks would gradually resume.
The White House expressed concern over the bombing, but spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush “remains hopeful that Gen. Zinni will be able to accomplish” his mission to foster peace.
Zinni, a retired Marine general, “realizes that this is not going to be an easy process,” said sources familiar with the envoy’s efforts, but he maintains that every violent occurrence cannot be seen as a barrier to ending the conflict.
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said on Israeli television that the blast was serious, “but we are in the midst of an attempt to bring the two sides … to a cease-fire.”
“We must continue. We cannot stop. On the contrary, the situation obliges us to act despite the pain–and there is great pain,” Ben Eliezer said.
Sharon’s concession
On Tuesday, Sharon said that if a cease-fire is set, Arafat will be permitted to attend an Arab summit in Beirut next week, where a Saudi peace plan is to be presented that calls for establishment of normal relations between Israel and the Arab world in exchange for a return of all lands captured in 1967.
Presidents Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Bashar Assad of Syria discussed the plan in talks in Cairo on Wednesday. They said in a joint statement that they would work to persuade fellow Arab leaders to agree on a “unified stand” on the Saudi initiative at the summit.
Witnesses said Diyak boarded the bus in the Israeli Arab town of Um el-Fahm. He argued a bit with the driver, witnesses said, and then walked to the middle of the bus before he detonated a powerful explosive.
