Car bomb latest obstacle on abortive path to truce

JERUSALEM - A car bomb packed with bullets and nails exploded in a car park near a Jerusalem shopping district yesterday, hurting no one but wounding hopes that an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire would take hold.

Al-Jazeera television in Qatar said the militant Islamic Jihad movement had claimed responsibility.

It was the first car bomb in Israel since the sides vowed last week to implement a truce that could make it easier for the United States to forge an anti-terror alliance. But Israeli troops have shot dead 17 Palestinians since then.

The explosion shattered windows, sent a cloud of black smoke into the air and lifted at least one car off the ground beside the busy Hebron Rd while Israelis were shopping on the eve of the Jewish Succot holiday.

"A ceasefire with car bombs is not a ceasefire that is acceptable for the people of Israel," said Israeli Government spokesman Dore Gold.

But Marwan al-Barghouthi, a West Bank leader of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, said the Israelis were the ones failing to comply with ceasefire pledges.

He told a news conference in Ramallah that Palestinian forces had shown restraint "but the Israelis have continued killing Palestinians".

No Israelis have been killed since Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres reaffirmed an agreement last week intended to pave the way to resuming peace talks after a bloody, year-long uprising against Israeli occupation.

In a separate development, Peres has denied saying he believed Israel Army leaders wanted to kill Arafat. Peres said he had been misquoted in an article in an Israeli newspaper.

In the interview with Yediot Ahronoth, Peres accused the Army of a mud-slinging campaign to undermine him and says the deputy chief of staff, Major-General Moshe Yaalon, did not understand "Palestinian distress". He said the officer would like to physically eliminate Arafat.

"Let's suppose we take him out, what will happen then?" Peres is quoted as saying. "Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah will come instead. Arafat accepts Israel's existence. He wants to speak to us and wants to be accepted in the West. They will want to establish a single state between Iraq and the Mediterranean."

The US condemned the car bombing and called on both sides to "avoid actions that jeopardise the re-establishment of direct discussions, and do everything possible to restore an atmosphere of calm".

It urged the Palestinian Authority to work to prevent such attacks and arrest the culprits.

The US sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an obstacle to its effort to recruit Arab states for a global coalition in response to the September 11 suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington.

Israeli commanders and Palestinian security chiefs met at the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip for US-sponsored talks to discuss security cooperation.

But sporadic violence continued.

The Army said grenades were thrown at an Israeli post near the Egyptian border and an explosive device was detonated near a military vehicle. Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen later engaged in a fierce gunbattle in the area.

The Army said Israeli forces had also come under fire at several places in the West Bank. In the northern Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, hundreds of Arab youths hurled stones at police after memorial ceremonies for 13 Israeli Arabs killed by police in clashes a year ago.

Arafat has said he is doing his utmost to end a year of bloodshed. Returning to Ramallah from Tunisia, he accused Israel of military escalation.

But he also repeated his commitment to the truce effort and expressed a willingness to go ahead with a second round of talks with Peres.

- REUTERS

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