Sharon call for patience as he develops response to violence

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is urging Israel to hold tight for the next few days as the spate of Palestinian bombings continues to rock the Jewish state.

In the latest bombing on Wednesday, two Israeli students were killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. The bomber also died in his attack in central Israel.

Aides to Sharon said the prime minister is determined not to respond to the Palestinian escalation in attacks in both Israel as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The aides said the spate of Palestinian bombings was timed for the current Arab League summit in Amman as well as the United Nations Security Council session in New York.

"In another 2-3 days, we will see another policy," Sharon said. "I know how to deal with this and when to deal with this."

The aides said Sharon was waiting for two events: the end of the Arab League summit, and Land Day, to be held over the weekend. Land Day is the Palestinian commemoration of the 1976 demonstrations by Israeli Arabs in which six of them were killed.

By next week, the aides said, Sharon will launch what they pledge will be a new security policy. This policy will target organizers of the Palestinian insurgency.

"Nobody will be cleared," Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said. "We will get them one by one. It won't be good here. It will worse there [in the Palestinian areas]. We are talking about murderers and we will respond. On Wednesday, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of Israeli yeshiva students waiting for a bus southeast of the West Bank city of Kalkilya. Three people — including the bomber — were killed in the attack. Four others were injured in a bombing said to have been sponsored by Hamas.

In Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, police found a bomb. The bomb was defused and nobody was hurt. Another bomb was found in the Tel Aviv suburb in Petah Tikva.

Wednesday's blast was the third Palestinian bombing over a period of 24 hours. On Tuesday, 35 people were injured when two bombs exploded in Jerusalem.

One of the attacks was that of a suicide bomber who detonated his bomb outside a passing bus in the French Hill section of Jerusalem. The suspected bomber was killed and 28 people were injured.

Earlier on Tuesday, six people were injured when a car bomb exploded in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Talpiot. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Israeli officials said Arafat ordered the escalation of attacks against Israel to force Sharon to return to the negotiating table with significant concessions to the Palestinians. They said Arafat has prepared for a long-term conflict.

On late Tuesday, Sharon received a telephone call from U.S. President George Bush. Israeli sources said Bush condemned the latest Palestinian attacks in Israel. Sharon also spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"Prime Minister Sharon made it clear to Secretary of State Powell that the deterioration in the security situation, which stems from the Palestinian Authority's terrorist activity and incitement, is intolerable," Sharon's office said.

Sharon is scheduled to convene his security Cabinet on Wednesday evening. The prime minister is said to be under pressure from some members of his Cabinet to respond to the Palestinian attacks.

For their part, PA officials said the conflict with Israel is entering a new stage. "The confrontation is expanding because of the policies announced by Sharon while he is launching an all-out war against the Palestinian people," PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said. "The situation in the Palestinian territories is at its most dangerous level."