JERUSALEM Ñ Israeli intelligence sources said Hamas planned a massive attack that included suicide
bombings in six Israeli cities simultaneously.
The sources said the plan was
drafted by the late Hamas military commander Salah Shehada, who was killed
last week in an Israeli bombing raid.
On Tuesday, a Palestinian reportedly blew himself up in a
fast-food store in downtown Jerusalem. Initial reports said several Israelis
were injured.
Earlier, Israeli troops and police searched for at least two suspected
Hamas suicide bombers who had entered the Jewish state. One of the suicide
bombers was killed by Israeli forces.
The Israeli assertion of a Hamas bombing campaign came as a leading
parliamentarian said the
assassination of Shehada torpedoed an attempt to achieve a Palestinian
ceasefire with Israel, Middle East Newsline reported.
Haim Ramon, the chairman of parliament's Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee, said the European Union had reached an
agreement with the ruling Fatah movement for an end to attacks with Israel.
Under the accord, Fatah was to have persuaded Hamas and other groups to do
the same.
"Nobody knew whether it was serious," Ramon said. "This information was
not relayed to the political leadership."
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer acknowledged that the EU launched
a drive to achieve a ceasefire. But the defense minister said no agreement
was reached.
"Practically, nothing happened and if something happened I don't think
Shehada would have honored it," Ben-Eliezer said.
On Tuesday, two Israelis were found dead in a Palestinian village near
the West Bank city of Nablus. Earlier, a Palestinian insurgent entered a
Jewish settlement near Nablus and stabbed two residents on early Tuesday.
The Palestinian attacker was shot dead by Israeli forces.
In a related development, Palestinian sources said a dispute has erupted
between Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and his newly-appointed interior minister,
Abdul Razik Yehya. The sources said Arafat has refused to endorse Yehya's
appointment of a police commander. In turn, Yehya has threatened not to lead
a Palestinian security delegation to Washington to discuss reforms of the PA
security services.
