Israel holds back on bus bomber attack

Israel was tonight holding back from retaliating after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a packed rush hour bus, killing seven other passengers including four Israeli soldiers.

American mediator Anthony Zinni contacted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to ensure that the delicate truce talks would not be derailed by the bombing.

The explosion, which blew gaping holes in the sides of the bus, also injured 27 people, many of them Arab Israeli passengers.

Israel said it wouldn’t retaliate for now, and agreed to a crucial meeting with the Palestinians that could produce a ceasefire after 18 months of Mideast fighting.

Israelis and Palestinians have both hinted a truce could be declared as early as tomorrow. However, the militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for today’s bombing and said it would not abide by any cease-fire agreement.

‘‘I had the honour to organise this attack, and I want to tell the Israelis that as long as Sharon is killing Palestinians, we in Islamic Jihad will kill Israelis,’’ said Mahmoud Tawalbi, head of group in the West Bank town of Jenin.

The bombing pointed to a fundamental problem facing Israeli and Palestinian negotiators: how to prevent a future attack from unleashing a spiral of retaliatory violence that will swiftly cause a truce to unravel?

Several previous ceasefires collapsed, and this month has seen the deadliest spurt of violence since the fighting began in September 2000.

‘‘The patience of the public will not be able to hold out for another attack or two,’’ said Israeli Labour Minister Shlomo Benizri.

Following today’s bombing, Sharon said Arafat bore ultimate responsibility for failing to prevent it. Arafat has ‘‘not moved away from a policy of terror, has not taken any steps and has not given any orders to stop attacks,’’ Sharon said.

The Palestinian Authority denounced the bombing and said it was working for the cease-fire, which would require it to arrest militants, something it has been reluctant to do.

All groups should ‘‘refrain from carrying out any operations against civilians inside Israel,’’ the Palestinian leadership said.

In today’s attack, the suicide bomber sat down in the middle of a crowded bus and blew himself up as the bus was travelling on a main highway on the outskirts of the Arab village of Musmus in northern Israel.

‘‘People were blown out of the windows and were lying on the road on both sides of the bus,’’ said bus driver Yosef Ben-Yosef. ‘‘Inside, dead and wounded people were lying everywhere. It was ghastly, indescribable.’’

Four of the dead were soldiers, the military said. The bus stops at many Arab villages, and many of the wounded were Arab Israelis.

Despite the virtual certainly that Arabs would be harmed, the attacker apparently chose the bus because he was able to blend in with the Arab passengers and a large number of Israeli soldiers also travel the route.

Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as Rafat Abu Diyak, (aged 24).

‘‘Thank God for everything, my son will go to heaven,’’ said his father.