Suicide bomber, airstrikes set Mideast alight

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened to throw Israel's full military arsenal against the Palestinians, amid scathing domestic criticism yesterday of his use of warplanes to retaliate for a suicide bombing.

"We will do everything necessary and use everything we have to protect Israeli citizens," Sharon was quoted as saying in an interview with Israel's largest daily, Yedioth Ahronoth.

Seven people, including a suicide bomber from the militant Hamas movement, were killed in the explosion at a shopping mall in the seaside Israeli city of Netanya on Friday. More than 110 were wounded.

The bomber, who survivors described as well-dressed, was spotted at the entrance to the large ultra-modern mall before he detonated his deadly load - a ring of explosives attached to his belt.

By then, at least one Israeli shopper had called the police to report suspicions - not least, the fact that he was an Arab wearing a bulky jacket on a brilliant early summer's morning.

But it was too late. Seconds later, seven people - himself included - were dead and the area was scattered with severed limbs.

Lior Kamissa, a security guard, said he was checking shoppers' bags at the mall entrance when the bomber approached. His fellow guard had already alerted him by walkie-talkie that there was a suspicious person around.

"I looked him in the eye, and he blew himself up," said Kamissa from his hospital bed, "I didn't see him push a button, nothing. He just exploded and disappeared. I saw big fire coming from this man, and smoke."

Another witness, Eli Seroussi, 27, recalls a well-dressed looking young man in a navy blue jacket.

"He was just looking around, waiting until a big enough crowd had gathered," he said as he lay in his hospital bed, with his hands bandaged and his body punctured in many places by nails.

"The guard was checking bags. When the bomber saw there were enough people, he just looked at the sky - and boom!

"There was a huge noise and a lot of fire. I was about 20m away. I wanted to help people, but I couldn't. There were nails everywhere, in everyone's bodies. And there was blood everywhere."

Hours later, Israeli F-16 warplanes struck Palestinian security compounds in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, killing at least 12 Palestinian policemen.

Yedioth Ahronoth, in an editorial, called the decision to unleash the United States-built F-16s for the first time in the eight-month-old Palestinian uprising "worthless" and "stupid." Other Israeli dailies echoed the commentary.

The Palestinian Authority called the Israeli attacks a "serious escalation" and urged the international community and the United States to intervene immediately.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat told the Arab League gathering in Cairo that fighting in Palestinian lands had escalated into a "decisive battle for Palestine."

The air raid, along with helicopter strikes that wounded at least 50 Palestinians yesterday in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarm, moved Arab Foreign Ministers to recommend suspension of political contacts with Israel.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the suicide attack appalling, but branded Israel's response "disproportionate."

Israeli troops also killed a Palestinian policeman yesterday during a gun battle in the West Bank and shot dead another Palestinian in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Army said both were armed and posed a threat to its forces.

A 20-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire while throwing stones at troops in the West Bank city of Nablus.

At least 441 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 87 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began.

The fighting brought new calls for an end to the violence and heightening of a security alert in Israel, where police on the watch for more suicide bombers set up roadblocks that caused traffic jams at the start of the Israeli work week.

The Israeli Defence Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, in a telephone conversation with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asked US leaders "to do all they could to persuade Arafat to stop the violence."

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS

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