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Bombing Attack Not to Block Contacts with Palestinians: Israeli FM
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said on Sunday that the latest bombing attacks against Israeli civilians will not "stand in the way of communication" with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
Peres made the remarks in an interview with Israel's Army Radio in response to right-wing politicians' windbaggary that Israel should not continue talks with the Palestinians after a series of bombing attacks.
Yitzhak Levy, head of the National Religious Party (NRP), said that although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promised not to hold negotiations with the Palestinians under fire, the "reality proves that talks are being held under fire, and that is a clear breach of his vow."
Another right-wing lawmaker, Michael Kleiner, said that Israel's willingness to resume negotiations after so many failures "portrays a picture of weakness to the Palestinians."
Shortly after Peres' remarks, a small bomb went off at a busy road junction to the north of Israel's coastal city of Haifa, lightly wounding at least one policeman, police spokesman said.
Initial reports said that the blast occurred when police sappers tried to defuse the bomb after discovering it at the "checkpost" junction located between Haifa and its northern suburbs.
It was the second bombing attacks in Israel in the past 10 hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up, killing at the same time a 53-year-old Israeli doctor and injuring about 50 people at a bus stop in the northern city of Kfar Sava Sunday morning.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing attack, and the police have not made any arrests in connection with it so far, police officials said.
The two bombing incidents are seen as likely to further strain the deteriorating relations between Israel and the Palestinians, who have been in violent clashes for nearly seven months, during which more than 470 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed.
Sharon has blamed the PNA for the suicide bombing attack, saying that PNA President Yasser Arafat "did not do enough to prevent terrorism."
"The government of Israel does not make any differentiation between a mortar attack against Israeli towns and villages in the Negev and a suicide or terrorist attack in Kfar Sava -- the ultimate or overall responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the Palestinian (NAtional) Authority," Sharon's adviser Ra'anan Gissin said in a statement.
As a result of the bombing attack, Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid, head of the dovish Meretz party, announced that he has postponed a scheduled meeting with Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Sarid told Israel Radio that he and Arafat made a phone conversation after the blast and agreed to put off the meeting slated for Sunday to discuss ways to calm the situation.
It was not immediately clear whether the scheduled security talks between Israeli and Palestinian area commanders will be held as planned for later Sunday after the bombing incident.
Israel Radio has reported that the talks on the ground were due to renew under the principles set by their superiors in a security meeting at the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip late Saturday night.
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