Spiralling violence leaves 'road map' in tatters

Israeli helicopters struck in Gaza City early today, killing two men – the second air assault within a few hours – and a teenage suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem, attacks that left 26 people dead, dozens wounded and a week-old Middle East peace plan in danger of collapse.

Twisted wreckage and broken bodies were the grisly outcome of the three attacks. In central Jerusalem, a bomber from the violent Islamic Hamas killed himself and 16 other people in a huge blast that lifted the heavy bus off the street, while in Gaza City, in two air strikes, Israeli helicopter missiles blasted two cars, killing nine people, including four militants.

The familiar pattern of attack, retaliation, attack wrested attention from the “road map” plan, designed to end 32 months of violence and solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict with a formula of two states living side by side in peace.

US President George W Bush, who just a week ago launched the road map plan and now was watching its chances of success diminish by the hour, angrily condemned the bus bombing and urged all nations to cut off financial assistance to terrorists and “isolate those who hate so much that they are willing to kill”.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, shunted aside in recent weeks in a US peace effort, moved back to centre stage, summoning reporters and reading a tough statement calling on all Palestinian factions to cease-fire, condemning the attacks in both Jerusalem and Gaza and pleading for international intervention to rescue the newborn road map plan.

Mr Arafat said the factions must “put the Palestinian national interest as a first priority and not to give Israel a chance to drag us into destroying the peace process”.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that though he is committed to a diplomatic process leading to peace, his army would pursue violent Palestinian groups “to the bitter end”.

Left behind was Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, promoted by Israel and the US as a replacement for Mr Arafat. His position has been badly weakened by the spiralling violence, burying his efforts to persuade Palestinian militants to halt attacks against Israelis instead of ordering a crackdown.

Mr Abbas issued a statement appealing for “a full commitment from all parties to a cease-fire, to stop violence and to immediately move into a serious implementation of road map”. Hamas rejected the truce call.

Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz called high-level consultations late yesterday, and Israel Radio reported afterward that the focus of Israel’s battle would be the infrastructure of Hamas.

Within minutes, Israeli helicopters struck Gaza City for the second time in six hours. Just after midnight, the Israeli gunships fired missiles at a car, killing two men inside.

They were identified as low-level Hamas activists, aged 22 and 24, from a unit that guards city streets. The Israeli military said the target was a cell of Palestinians who were about to fire a mortar shell at the nearby Netzarim settlement.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the bus bombing. Palestinians identified the attacker as Abdel Madi Shabneh, 18, a high school student from Hebron. Disguised as an Orthodox Jew, he boarded a Jerusalem city bus near the open-air market and set off his explosives seconds later, police said, killing 16 passengers and bystanders and wounding more than 70.

One of the wounded in the bus bombing was the daughter of US Senator Robert Singer, Israel Radio reported. Her condition was not known.

It was the bloodiest suicide bombing since January 5, when two bombers killed 23 in Tel Aviv.

Less than an hour after the bus bombing, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car in Gaza City, killing two Hamas commanders, Tito Massoud, 35, and Soheil Abu Nahel, 29.

The missiles turned the car into a burning ball of wreckage. Hundreds rushed to the scene and tried to put out the fire with blankets and water.

“When we started trying to evacuate them (the passengers) from the car, another missile attack took place while a huge number of people were gathering trying to help the wounded,” said Massoud Ramadan, 65, a shopkeeper, who was hurt by shrapnel.

Dr Moawiya Hassanain, director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said a total of seven people were killed and 30 wounded. Among the wounded were eight children under the age of 14.

The target of a similar strike on Tuesday, Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, survived with shrapnel injuries. From his hospital bed after yesterday’s attack, he criticised Mr Arafat for calling for a cease-fire, saying the fighting will only end when Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands does.

“We will continue the resistance until we liberate this land, until Sharon realises that this land is for Palestinians, for Muslims,” he said. Hamas rejects the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East and has been responsible for most of the 95 suicide bombings that have killed 367 people since the current conflict erupted.