World Tribune.com

banner2_468

Suicide attacks resume, Bush deploys Tenet

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, May 8, 2002 TEL AVIV Ñ After a lull of several weeks, Palestinian insurgents have resumed suicide attacks against Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was in a meeting with President George Bush, decided to cut short his visit to the United States and return to Israel. Sharon said he would convene his senior ministers to decide on a military response.

"This situation can no longer continue," Sharon said. "I came here to make an effort for peace. What I received is what you now see."

Sources said Bush rejected Sharon's appeal to exile Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Middle East Newsline reported. Instead, Bush decided to send CIA director George Tenet to help organize a Palestinian security force to fight insurgency attacks against Israel. The president called on Arafat to merge his numerous security forces into one agency.



A suicide bomber blew himself up in a billiard hall in the Israeli city of Rishon LeZion south of Tel Aviv. At least 16 people were killed and 55 were injured in the attack on late Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a Palestinian was killed as he was carrying a bomb in northern Israel. The Palestinian was believed to have infiltrated from the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the target of an Israeli military offensive last month.

The Islamic opposition Hamas movement claimed responsibility for the blast. Hamas did not identify the bomber or say where he came from. It was the first bombing in Israel in a month and took place amid an intelligence alert of a renewal of Palestinian insurgency attacks. Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Zahar said the bombing was meant to demonstrate that Israel's military offensive in the West Bank last month failed to stop what he termed Palestinian resistance.

A senior administration official said Sharon did not raise any Israeli request for additional U.S. weapons during his meeting with Bush. The official said the prime minister also did not ask for additional U.S. economic or military aid from Washington.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian gunners fired mortar shells toward Israeli communities. At the same time, Israeli troops foiled an attempt by Palestinian attackers to infiltrate the Jewish community of Morag in the southern portion of the strip.


Geostrategy-Direct, www.geostrategy-direct.com, April 23, 2002
Copyright © 2002 East West Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Print this Article Print this Article Email this article Email this article Subscribe to this Feature Free Headline Alerts