To: SilentZ who wrote (143586 ) 3/27/2002 4:12:58 PM From: tejek Respond to of 1583404 Suicide Bomber Attacks Israeli Hotel; 15 Dead By Irwin Arieff Reuters NETANYA, Israel (March 27) - A suicide bomber blew himself up in the dining room of an Israeli coastal hotel on Wednesday evening, killing 15 people and wounding more than 100, police and medical rescue workers said. The attack occurred just after the sundown start of the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover and it coincided with an Arab summit in Beirut where Saudi Arabia presented a plan for peace between the Arab world and Israel. The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The group said Abdel-Basset Odeh, a member of its military wing Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades from the West Bank town of Tulkarm, carried out the evening attack. Palestinian sources said Hamas, which opposes Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's support of a peace accord with Israel, had not carried out any attacks inside Israel in recent weeks. Palestinian militants have waged a series of bombings in Israel since they launched an uprising against Israeli occupation some 18 months ago, killing and wounding scores of people. Israeli Police Chief Shlomo Ahronishky said several of the wounded were in critical condition from Wednesday's explosion, which devastated the dining room and battered the lobby of the seaside Park Hotel in the resort town of Netanya. Witnesses said the attacker entered the hotel via the dining hall at 7:15 p.m. and then exploded. ''Some people had not yet managed to sit down,'' said one. Avi Zohar, head of the Magen David Adom ambulance service, said about 100 ambulances raced to the scenes from all over the central Mediterranean coastal strip. Victims were frantically whisked away on stretchers to ambulances arriving with sirens wailing. Gun-toting policemen and soldiers milled among the stricken crowd. A helicopter clattered overhead. The Israeli government blamed Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for the bombing, saying he had failed to curb militants who have targeted Israeli civilians and soldiers alike in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as Israel itself. ''Arafat is to blame for the violence that emanates from the territories under his control,'' said government spokesman Daviud Baker. ''It is clear the Palestinians are bent on using everything at their disposal for killing and maiming as many Israelis as possible anywhere, anytime.'' Netanya has been targeted several times during the Palestinian uprising by bombers thought to have come from across the ''green line'' with the West Bank just a few miles to the east. The Palestinian Authority had no immediate reaction. It has condemned several recent suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian militants, including those from an armed offshoot of Arafat's national movement Fatah. Reut14:54 03-27-02