To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (3292 ) 1/19/2003 5:26:32 PM From: lorne Respond to of 3467 Iran linked to suicide bombing in Israel Press Trust of India JERUSALEM, Jan. 19. — Israel has claimed that it was in possession of evidence which suggests that Iran was behind the twin suicide bombings that had rocked Tel Aviv about a fortnight ago. According to Ha’aretz daily, Israel has evidence that Iran sends money and instructions, usually via Lebanon, to the military branch of the Fatah in Nablus, known as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Meanwhile, Tel Aviv is checking whether the cell involved in the attack had received money from Iran, the daily reported. Two Fatah activists from Nablus had carried out the attacks near old central bus station in Tel Aviv in which 23 people were killed. According to the Ha’aretz report, instructions for carrying out the attacks had apparently come from the Iranians, but it was not clear whether timing and location of the attacks were also decided by Tehran. Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon had reportedly said Syrian army held joint exercises with the Hezbollah along with units of the Iranian revolutionary guards in Lebanon. Hamas’ condition: Hamas is ready to halt attacks on Israeli civilians if Israel stops harming Palestinian civilians, an official of the Islamic radical movement said today as it prepared for renewed talks with other Palestinian factions in Cairo, adds AFP. “Hamas rejects a halt to the resistance and rejects the truce which has been proposed,” Mr Ossama Hamdan said. “However, Hamas is sticking by its proposal formulated a year ago by recommending an end to attacks on civilians on both sides,” Mr Hamdan said.thestatesman.net