US peace envoy 'determined' to end fighting

A US peace envoy today said violence between Israelis and Palestinians will not deter him from his mission, and that he will stay in the region ‘‘as long as it takes’’.

Retired General Anthony Zinni spoke hours after seven people were killed in a bomb attack and two gunfire incidents.

Three Israelis were killed and six wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in northern Israel. Eyewitness Emanuel Biton said he saw the bomb ‘‘rip the bus into pieces, and things were flying everywhere’’.

Following the blast, 3,000 people marched through a Palestinian refugee camp in the nearby West Bank town of Jenin, celebrating and chanting: ‘‘Sharon, prepare the body bags.’’

The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack and said the bomber was a 32-year-old man from Jenin.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the bombing - even though in recent days the Palestinian Authority had implored militant groups to not stage attacks in Israel.

Mr Pazner said: ‘‘These terrorist attacks are the means by which the Palestinian Authority undermines the peace mission of General Zinni.

On board a plane preparing to leave for the US, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon claimed Arafat was ‘‘directly responsible’’ for the escalating violence. He said Israel ‘‘will not undertake negotiations in any form until there is quiet and until Arafat fights terror’’.

Sharon added that he had considered cancelling his trip, but decided to go to Washington and explain Israel’s position.

Earlier yesterday, Israeli soldiers shot at a car at a West Bank roadblock, killing two Palestinians. The Israeli military said the car tried to run over soldiers at the roadblock.

In another part of the West Bank, an Israeli was killed and another seriously wounded when Palestinians opened fire from a moving car, hospital officials said.

The violence greatly complicated the efforts by Zinni to bring the two sides to implement a previously agreed truce.

Tension has been high in the region since Israel killed a leading Hamas militant last Friday, sparking several revenge attacks, including a shooting rampage by Palestinians in the northern Israeli town of Afula.