Suicide Bomber Attacks Israeli Hotel; 15 Dead
By Havakuk Levison
Reuters
NETANYA, Israel (March 27) - A Palestinian suicide bomber killed 15 people and wounded about 100 at an Israeli seaside hotel in a Passover attack Wednesday that dealt a heavy blow to U.S. Middle East peace efforts and overshadowed a peace initiative being discussed at an Arab summit.
Israel refused to let Palestinian President Yasser Arafat attend the Arab summit, which was plunged into disarray when the Palestinian team walked out saying Lebanon refused to let Arafat address the meeting by satellite from his West Bank base.
U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni's cease-fire efforts had already been deadlocked before the bombing. The sides disagree over terms for implementing a truce that would pave the way for confidence-building measures and eventual peace talks.
In Atlanta, President Bush condemned the bombing and called on Arafat and the Palestinian Authority ''...to do everything in their power to stop the terrorist killing...''
The suicide bombing, one of the bloodiest since the start of the 18-month Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, devastated the dining room of the luxury Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya, blowing debris onto the street, leaving wires and pieces of ceiling hanging and chunks of concrete and metal bars lying near broken chairs and tables.
Bodies were lined up in body bags outside the hotel.
Rescue workers clambered through the wreckage and removed dazed survivors on stretchers. Guests had been celebrating a feast at the start of the Passover commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.
''It was in the dining hall. People had not yet managed to sit down,'' an ambulance worker said.
The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast, saying a member of its military wing from the West Bank town of Tulkarm carried it out. Tulkarm is just 6 miles east of Netanya.
ISRAEL BLAMES ARAFAT
Israel blamed the blast on Arafat, saying he had failed to crack down on militants.
It did not say how it would respond, but security sources suggested earlier this week that any big attack would provoke tough military action. Political experts on both sides have said it will be hard to prevent a new round of fierce fighting.
''Arafat is to blame for the violence that emanates from the territories under his control,'' said David Baker, a government spokesman. ''It is clear the Palestinians are bent on using everything at their disposal for killing and maiming as many Israelis as possible anywhere, any time.''
A senior Palestinian official blamed the explosion on the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, which Palestinians say have fueled resentment and anger.
Jibril Rajoub, head of Palestinian Preventive Security in the West Bank, said the ''frustrations, suffering and pain imposed by Sharon on the Palestinians pushes some Palestinians to carry out such attacks.''
At least 1,105 Palestinians and 358 Israelis had died in almost 18 months of violence before Wednesday's attack.
''At about 7:15 p.m., an attacker entered the dining hall and then blew himself up,'' said Israeli police chief Shlomo Ahronisky, who said the toll was at least 15 dead and about 100 wounded, some seriously.
Avi Zohar, head of the Magen David Adom ambulance service, said about 100 ambulances raced to the scene from all over the central Mediterranean coastal strip.
VICTIMS ON STRETCHERS
Victims were whisked away on stretchers to ambulances arriving with sirens wailing. Armed police and soldiers milled among the crowd. A helicopter clattered overhead.
It was one of the bloodiest suicide assaults of the conflict. In the worst such attack, a Palestinian blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv discotheque last June, killing 21 people, many of them immigrants from the Soviet Union.
Netanya also has a large community of former Soviet citizens and has suffered several previous attacks.
The United States says Arafat should do more to prevent such attacks but has also criticized Sharon for launching a major military offensive this month that included raids on refugee camps and brief reoccupation of some Palestinian cities.
Relations between Arafat and Sharon, who are old foes, also deteriorated this week as the Israeli prime minister refused to lift a more than three-month-old travel ban to allow the Palestinian leader to attend the Arab summit in Beirut.
SUMMIT RESCUE EFFORTS
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud was trying to rescue the summit from collapse after the Palestinian walkout, and a Palestinian minister said later his team would rejoin the talks Thursday, when Arafat's speech would be broadcast.
The dispute threatened to diminish the impact of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's land-for-peace proposal.
The prince asked the summit to back his plan for ''normal ties'' with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land and creation of a Palestinian state. His initiative proposes ''normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied territories.''
REUTERS 16:28 03-27-02
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