Israel warns Palestinians over suicide attacks

Israel has warned the Palestinians that there can be no progress towards peace in the Middle East unless they rein in militant groups, following two suicide bombings in less than an hour.

Yesterday’s attacks shook a truce that has dramatically reduced violence, but both sides indicated they wanted the ceasefire to continue.

The suicide attacks were the first since July 7, when a bomber killed a woman in an Israeli village. Five people have been killed on the Israeli side since the unilateral Palestinian truce was declared on June 29. In contrast, 30 Israelis were killed by suicide bombers in the six weeks before the truce.

Fifteen people, including the three bombers, have been killed on the Palestinian side since the truce began.

Yesterday’s blasts, in an Israeli town and a West Bank settlement 11 miles apart, killed two Israelis and wounded 11.

In response, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said last night: ”There can be no peace with terror.”

He was addressing thousands of visiting students, many from the United States.

Sharon said the attacks were the result of a “complete lack of Palestinian action” in dismantling militant groups, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as required by the current US-backed “road map” peace plan.

“As long as terror continues, as long as the Palestinian Authority does nothing to fulfil its commitments” to disarm militants, he said, “it will be impossible to move forward.”

However, Israeli officials refrained from threatening large-scale military retaliation, indicating that they want the relative calm to be restored.

Hamas and a faction loosely linked to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attacks. Hamas said the bombing in Ariel, on the West Bank, was to avenge the killing of two of its bomb makers in an Israeli army raid on Friday, and that the group would now return to observing its three-month truce.

A renegade faction of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades which opposes the ceasefire claimed responsibility for the other attack, near Tel Aviv, and threatened more attacks “until the occupation is defeated.” Fatah itself declared a six-month halt to attacks.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas insisted the Palestinian factions remained committed to their truce. “The escalation of the situation came from the Israeli side,” Abbas said in Qatar, before heading to Amman, where he was to meet senior US envoy William Burns today.

US officials in Washington, meanwhile, urged Abbas to confront militant groups.

The Palestinians “must act now to dismantle terrorist capabilities of these terrorist organisations,” State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said.

Both the bombers were 17 and lived near each other in the West Bank city of Nablus. Police arrested a man who allegedly drove the bomber, Khamas Gerwan, to the Israeli city, Rosh Haayin, police commander Amihai Shai told Israel Radio.

Hamas released a letter that it said was written by the second assailant, Islam Qteishat, who blew himself up next to the settlement of Ariel. “Father, don’t be sad, lift your head in pride, because your son died a martyr for the sake of God,” the letter said.

But the bomber’s mother, Yusra, demanded retribution against the militants who sent her son to die – a rare attitude in a society where suicide bombers are usually revered as martyrs. “I’ll kill whoever dispatched my son,” she screamed, beating her fists against a wall.

Israeli troops responded to the bombings by sealing off Nablus and imposing a curfew on surrounding West Bank villages.

“This underlines the need for us to continue to operate in the territories under our security responsibility in the Palestinian areas,” Israeli army chief Lt Gen Moshe Yaalon said.

The “road map” peace plan calls for Israeli troops to pull out in phases from areas reoccupied during the fighting. It also requires the Palestinians to dismantle the violent groups. The plan leads through three phases to a Palestinian state in 2005.

But Israeli troops still control most West Bank towns, and Yaalon said Israel will continue to operate there to “foil terror attacks like the ones we saw today”.