Israelis weigh bomb reprisal

JERUSALEM - With the Middle East peace process hanging in the balance, Israel prepared yesterday to strike hard at Palestinian militants after one of the worst terror acts since the Palestinian uprising began three years ago.

A suicide bombing in a crowded Jerusalem bus yesterday killed 20 people, including children, and wounded up to 120 others.

The attack was the 100th Palestinian suicide bombing against Israelis since the latest round of fighting began in September 2000.

The youth of yesterday's victims stood out in that grim list, and the Israeli Government said the choice of target was particularly cold-blooded.

"You have to remember the target of the attack - a moving bus bringing families who had been praying at the Western Wall," said Government spokesman Dore Gold.

"It is important for people to understand that the children who died and were injured were specifically targeted by the suicide bomber who saw them."

At least five children were among the dead. Dozens of children were treated at city hospitals.

Strollers were scattered near the bus, medics carried away children with blood-smeared faces and a baby girl died in hospital before doctors could find her parents.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called an urgent meeting of security and Cabinet officials last night to decide on Israel's reaction.

A major blow was widely anticipated against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the bombing, but there was no immediate Israeli renunciation of the "Roadmap" peace process that was to lead to a Palestinian state.

Israeli officials said the reaction would not come for a few days, presumably to see if the Palestinian Authority will itself crack down on the militants.

"The Palestinian Authority can no longer delay the moment of truth," said Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "If it doesn't confront these organisations - and we can help it - it will become their victim."

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said after the bombing that he was breaking contacts with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and ordered his security forces "to take steps" against the organisations.

Until now, Abbas has made it clear he will avoid any armed confrontation with the militants and there is widespread scepticism in Israel that he will attack them now.

Abbas condemned the bus blast, saying it "does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people".

Meanwhile, Sharon ordered the abrogation of all concessions made to the Palestinians in recent weeks, including the removal of roadblocks that had impeded the movement of civilians between cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Among Israeli retribution reportedly being mooted was a military takeover of the Gaza Strip, heartland of Hamas, similar to the takeover of the West Bank following a suicide attack last year at a Passover eve festival.

The possible expulsion of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was also raised again, with a right-wing Israeli minister, Avigdor Leiberman, suggesting that Arafat's headquarters be bombed with the Palestinian leader inside.

One of the more moderate ministers, Yosef Lapid, proposed that Abbas be given one more chance to see if he can overcome the extremists.

The suicide bomber was identified by Hamas as a 29-year-old imam, or preacher, in a Hebron mosque.

A videotape released by Hamas in Hebron showed a man who named himself as Raed Abdel-Hamid Mask and said he would carry out the bombing to avenge Israel's killing of a past Hamas cell commander there.

Islamic Jihad said the bombing was in revenge for the killing in Hebron last week of a leading figure in the organisation's military wing.

Hamas officials said that as far as they were concerned, the hudna, or ceasefire, continued but that it would strike back at Israel for every Israeli attack on Islamic activists.

Twice this month there have been tit-for-tat killings despite the ceasefire, with Israel killing militants it said were preparing attacks against Israel and Palestinian suicide bombers striking back.

In both those incidents, the total number of dead on both sides amounted to fewer than 10.

But yesterday's bombing shattered that bloody balance.

The bus attacked was packed with ultra-Orthodox Jewish families returning from the Western Wall.

Apart from the dead, a dozen passengers were seriously wounded.

Police said the suicide bomber was carrying a "large" explosive device when he boarded the bus.

They were investigating reports that he may have been dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew.

- AGENCIES, HERALD CORRESPONDENT