Posted by NEWS on 1/11/2004, 18:50:00 The attack tested Israel's promise to show restraint as the ailing Yasser Arafat received medical treatment in France, and undercut efforts by Palestinian officials to convey a sense of normalcy in the absence of their leader. Palestinian leaders - including Arafat - immediately condemned the attack, the first since a Sept. 22 bombing in Jerusalem. "(Arafat) appealed to all Palestinian factions to commit to avoid harming all Israeli civilians and he appealed to (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon to take similar initiatives to avoid harming Palestinian civilians," Arafat's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said in France. The blast occurred shortly before noon when an attacker detonated a 5 kilogram (11 pounds) bomb in the popular Carmel market in Tel Aviv, ripping apart a dairy store, damaging a neighboring vegetable stall and sending screaming shoppers running for safety. "The explosion was huge, there was fire and smoke ... it knocked me over," said David Hayu, 56, who owns a butcher shop across from the store. "No one knew what to do. People were looking for their sons, their daughters, their husbands and wives." The blast ripped off the front of the store's sign, covering it with blood and leaving loose wire dangling out of the wall. Lettuce and parsley splattered with blood were strewn on the pavement, along with spices and packages of children's socks. Paramedics wheeled away two bodies in black plastic bags. Rescue workers scoured the pavement and dug through piles of cheese and spices inside the store in search of body parts. The attack, which killed three and wounded 32, was the 116th suicide bombing since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in 2000 and was the first since Arafat left for France last week. In all, 493 Israelis have been killed in such attacks. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical PLO faction, claimed responsibility, identifying the assailant as Eli Amer Alfar, from the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus. Alfar was only 16 years old, one of the youngest Palestinian suicide bombers, and his parents lashed out at the militants who recruited him. "It's immoral to send someone so young," said Samir Abdullah, 45, Alfar's mother. "They should have sent an adult who understands the meaning of his deeds." Abdel Rahim, 53, Alfar's father, said his son woke him up early Monday and asked for two shekels (50 cents) before leaving. "Two shekels, that's what boys ask for - it's not money for men," he said. "He kissed me on the cheek and hand and left and I went back to sleep." The blast came at a time of growing concern about instability during Arafat's absence. Militants appeared to be trying to signal they are in charge, not Arafat's stand-ins who have been trying to convey a sense of normalcy in Palestinian politics. Israel has said that while the Palestinian leader is away, it would show restraint in its battle with militants. After the bombing, Sharon said Israel "will not stop its war against terrorism" and reiterated his commitment to unilaterally disengage from the Palestinians. "I'm not changing my policy until there are changes in the Palestinian administration and until it stops its incitement and its terror," Sharon said. But there were few signs Israel was gearing up for a major retaliation for the attack, with none of the hurried meetings of top security officials or the heated rhetoric that usually precedes such a raid. Instead Israel called on the Palestinians to fight the violence. "We want to see a Palestinian leadership, no matter who is in control over there, we want to see them fighting terror," said David Saranga, a foreign ministry spokesman. Soon after the attack, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in Askar who was throwing stones at an Israeli patrol, local doctors said. The army said it was unaware of the incident. In the West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli troops arrested the local leader of the Islamic Jihad group, 27-year-old Fadi Assadi, residents said. The army said it had caught an Islamic Jihad operative, but did not confirm his identity. Monday's explosion came as Israelis and Palestinians were contemplating the repercussions of Arafat's departure for medical treatment in France. A military intelligence official told parliament's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday he believed Arafat either has cancer or a severe viral infection. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the meeting that if Arafat were to die there was a chance of a more pragmatic Palestinian leadership emerging that Israel could work with, but only if the new leaders fight terror and enact reforms. But there also was a chance that Palestinian terror groups would exploit Arafat's death to try to prove themselves, he said. Israel has accused Arafat of fomenting terror and refused to deal with him. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, who has been trying to project a business-as-usual image in Arafat's absence, called on the disparate - and often warring - Palestinian security forces to work together to ensure the West Bank and Gaza Strip do not spiral further into chaos. "Now Arafat is abroad for treatment ... so we have to take preventive measures to stop any attempt (by militant groups) to harm Palestinian institutions," he said. Qureia also appealed for international aid to help the struggling Palestinian Authority pay its employees' salaries.
Palestinian teenager blows himself up in Tel Aviv market; 3 killed
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - A Palestinian teenager laden with explosives walked into a crowded outdoor market and blew himself up Monday, killing three Israelis, wounding 32 and scattering bloody vegetables and spices along the ground.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
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