Abbas convenes emergency session after suicide bomb
Tuesday night's Jerusalem bus blast also wounded more than 100, including about 40 children, returning from the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine. It was the deadliest Palestinian terror attack since the road map peace plan was unveiled three months ago by US President George W Bush.
The Palestinian Authority's next move could well determine the fate of the US-backed peace plan. Cabinet ministers arrived in Gaza City last night for a meeting called by Abbas.
Earlier yesterday, Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan met with Palestinian security commanders in the Gaza Strip. He ordered them "to be on high alert to implement whatever decision will be taken by the political leadership and the Palestinian Authority against those involved in yesterday's attack", spokesman Elias Zananiri said.
Abbas, who could lose his job if violence persists, has said he will not confront the militants as required by the peace plan because he fears internal fighting.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top defence officials decided yesterday to give Dahlan time to begin cracking down on the militants, a security official said. Israel had expected to see some action already yesterday, an official said on condition of anonymity.
Israel is expected to intensify its hunt for wanted militants if the Palestinian security forces do not take action. But a major military strike on par with last year's offensives after bombings of a similar scale is not being considered, the defence official said.
Security officials also decided against targeting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the official said. In the past, troops have repeatedly besieged Arafat's West Bank headquarters.
Abbas was meeting with Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza City on Tuesday when he learned of the bombing. Condemning the attack as a terrible crime, Abbas broke off contact with Hamas and Islamic Jihad and convened the emergency cabinet meeting.
In the Gaza Strip Hamas leaders insisted they remain committed to a three-month truce they and other militants declared unilaterally on June 29, but said they reserve the right to revenge the killings of operatives by Israeli troops.
There were some indications that the bomber, who disguised himself as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, tried to settle a personal score with the attack.
Meanwhile, Israel froze all contacts with the Palestinian Authority and cancelled the planned hand-over of two West Bank towns to Palestinian control, a move that was expected later this week. The Israeli army also closed border crossings to seal off the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The bus was headed from the Western Wall to an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood on the city's outskirts, and families with children were packed in the seats and aisles.
Rescue worker Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, one of the first people on the scene, said that he found a baby just a few months old, crying and alive.
Rescue workers later found the parents alive in another hospital, officials said.
lThe Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen called on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to redouble efforts to advance the faltering peace process. Responding to the attack Mr Cowen yesterday urged Ariel Sharon's government to exercise restraint in response to the atrocity.
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