Palestinian suicide attack leaves 19 dead

A Palestinian woman wrapped in explosives blew herself up in a beachfront restaurant popular with Arabs and Jews, killing 19 bystanders, including four children.

The attack prompted new demands in Israel to “remove” Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The attack yesterday lunchtime, one of the deadliest in three years of violence, came despite strict military precautions a day before the start of Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

Early today, Israeli helicopters attacked in two places in Gaza in apparent retaliation for the bombing. No causalities were reported in either strike. In Gaza City, missiles struck a small, empty house, while in the Boureij refugee camp, the Israelis targeted the house of an Islamic Jihad leader, but residents said he escaped.

The military said it targeted two Hamas weapons caches.

Fearing another strike, Palestinian officials appealed to international mediators to ensure Arafat’s safety.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his advisers for an emergency meeting last night. The vice premier, Ehud Olmert, said Israel faces tough decisions and, if necessary, would carry them out regardless of international opinion. “The world will have to accept our decisions,” Olmert said.

The meeting lasted three hours and no decisions were announced.

Despite a Cabinet decision last month to “remove” Arafat at an unspecified time, Israel might shy away expelling the Palestinian leader because of strong U.S. opposition. Israel might settle for a lesser step, such as tightening Arafat’s isolation at his battle-scarred West Bank headquarters, to which he has been confined for nearly two years.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry official said the next two days would be crucial for the survival of a U.S.-backed peace plan, suggesting Israel might not take any immediate drastic action.

Arafat condemned the attack and said it endangered Palestinian interests. Incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia called Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav to express his condolences.

Eight Israelis joined 18 members of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement at Arafat’s battered compound, pledging to act as a human shield to prevent Israeli action. The ISM activists came from the United States, Canada and four other countries.

The Islamic Jihad group said it carried out the bombing, identifying the assailant as Hanadi Jaradat, a 27-year-old apprentice lawyer from the West Bank town of Jenin whose brother and a cousin, an Islamic Jihad member, were killed in June during a raid by Israeli troops.

Before daybreak today, Israeli forces entered Jenin and destroyed the bomber’s house, Palestinians said. No casualties were reported.

Sharon has held Arafat responsible for even attacks carried out by Islamic militant groups – his internal opposition – saying his statements often promote terrorism and that he has prevented the Palestinian Authority from doing anything to stop the militants.

Haifa, one of the few mixed Arab-Jewish communities in Israel, is a tolerant port city, but has also been a repeated target for Palestinian bombers, perhaps because the attackers are better able to blend in.

Nineteen bystanders were killed Saturday, including two babies, ages one month and one year, and two children, who were about six or seven years old, rescue officials said. Four Arabs were also among the dead.

ZAKA, a group that aids rescue workers and gathers body parts for burial, said that five members of one family and three from another were among the dead.

About 55 people were wounded in the attack on the Maxim Restaurant, co-owned by Israeli Arabs and Jews and located near a major junction at the southern entrance to Haifa.

The blast went off shortly after 2pm (12pm Irish time) in the midst of the Jewish Sabbath, shattering windows and bringing much of the restaurant’s ceiling tumbling to the ground. Dozens of light fixtures and wires hung limply from the ceiling.

US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the attack – the first suicide bombing since twin attacks killed 15 people on September. 9, near an army base outside Tel Aviv and at a Jerusalem coffee shop. Those attacks prompted the Israeli security Cabinet to vote to “remove” Arafat, a threat interpreted as either expelling or killing the Palestinian leader.

Sharon had hinted Israel might act against Arafat in response to an attack with many casualties. The United States opposes expelling Arafat and Israel’s security chiefs are divided on the issue. Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, who has spoken in favour of expulsion, have the final say on when to act on the Cabinet decision.

But the timing of the attack – on the eve of an expected announcement of Qureia’s new Cabinet – was likely to create international pressure to give the new team a chance an action against Arafat would be risk the effective destruction of the Palestinian Authority.

In his statement, Bush said that “the new Palestinian Cabinet must dedicate itself to dismantling the infrastructure of terror and preventing the kind of murderous actions that we witnessed today.”

Israeli Health Minister Dan Naveh said Israel must not hesitate. “This awful attack today is definitely an opportunity, the correct opportunity, to implement the Cabinet decision to get rid of Arafat,” he said. “It is clear to all of us that he is the biggest obstacle to reaching better days.”

Hours after the blast, two Israeli planes briefly circled Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah, and Israeli army jeeps drove past.