GAZA/WASHINGTON, 26 January — Israeli warplanes bombed Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank yesterday as US President George W. Bush mulled options to punish Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for what he called "enhancing terror". Earlier in the day, a Palestinian blew himself up in a busy Tel Aviv street, killing himself and wounding 25 people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Tel Aviv attack which was in apparent retaliation of the Israeli assassination of a Hamas activist in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the airstrikes on Gaza City and Tulkarm in the West Bank. The Israeli Army said it had no immediate comment.
Bush said he was "very disappointed" in Arafat and accused him of "enhancing terrorism" as his top aides weighed possible punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority.
"I am disappointed in Yasser Arafat," Bush told reporters in Portland, Maine, referring to Arafat’s failure to punish Palestinian officials the United States and Israel say are involved in a foiled arms-smuggling operation. "He must make a full effort to rout out terror in the Middle East," he said. "In order for there to be peace, we’ve got to rout out terror and ordering up weapons that were intercepted on a boat headed for that part of the world, is not part of fighting terror, that’s enhancing terror."
Bush’s comments came as Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would consider a "full range" of diplomatic and political steps to deal with Arafat and would not rule out a possible downgrading of US ties with the Palestinian Authority.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and other State Department officials were counseling against severing ties. According to a well-placed US official, they favored demanding that Arafat guarantee tough action against terrorism and then the administration would resume its peacemaking efforts. Pushing for a cutoff were Vice President Dick Cheney’s office and Pentagon staffers, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In other violence, Palestinian stone-throwers clashed with Israeli troops who fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Eleven protresters were wounded.
