RAMALLAH/MEGIDDO JUNCTION, Israel, 6 June — Dozens of Israeli tanks backed by Apache helicopters stormed Jenin yesterday after a massive bomb turned a rush-hour Israeli bus into a fireball early in the morning, killing 17 people, including the bomber and wounding dozens of others. Thirteen of those killed were soldiers. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the blast and named the bomber as Hamzi Samudi.
The Palestinian leadership condemned the bombing stressing in a statement that it had nothing to do with the attack. The Palestinian Authority rejected Israel’s charge that President Yasser Arafat was responsible for the attack.
Palestinian security chiefs ordered the arrest of the Islamic Jihad leaders who sent the activist to carry out the bombing, an official in Ramallah said.
In Jeddah, Prince Abdullah, the regent, held talks yesterday with Jordan’s King Abdallah on Middle East situation as diplomatic endeavors to establish peace in the region gained momentum. The two leaders blasted the ongoing Israeli military campaign against the Palestinians. The talks were attended by Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
In a speech broadcast to a Cairo ceremony marking the anniversary of the Six Day War in which Israel seized the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Arafat said peace remained the strategic choice of the Palestinians and the Arab nation.
A Palestinian man was killed and another wounded by shell fire from Israeli tanks east of Gaza City around dawn yesterday, Palestinian security officials said.
They named the dead man as Ussama Al-Shaet, aged 19, without giving details.
US envoy William Burns, meanwhile, wrapped up his regional tour in Beirut yesterday asserting that military operations and violence will never solve the Middle East conflict.
Israeli military radio, quoting police sources, said 16 Israelis were killed as a car laden with explosives overtook the bus and detonated near Megiddo, the Hebrew name for Armageddon.
The bombing prompted fears of a new resurgence in Israeli-Palestinian violence as US CIA chief George Tenet was in the region trying to kick start efforts to beef up security arrangements and curb the bloodshed. US condemned the bombing and urged Israel to exercise restraint.
An Israeli official said it was unlikely there would be a massive response before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets George W. Bush on Monday, when he will ask the US president to dump Arafat as a peace partner.
Tenet told Arafat hours before yesterday’s blast that Sharon would have a "free hand" to retaliate if the bombings continued, a senior Palestinian official said.
Avi Pazner, an Israeli government spokesman, accused Arafat of "encouraging terrorism" and warned that Israel would take all necessary steps to protect its residents.
Police said the blast was caused by explosives packed into a car that overtook the bus as it plied the route between Tel Aviv and Tiberias and which was full at the time.
Debris was strewn 200 meters around the site of the blast, which left a crater in front of a prison.
Israeli forces poured into Jenin after the attack, firing as they advanced.
A senior Israeli official, who asked not to be identified, said Israel was waiting for "tacit approval" from Washington to dump Arafat as a player in the Middle East peace process. He said the US administration was "wavering" in its conviction that there is no alternative to Arafat, and that Sharon would press the point when he meets Bush in Washington.
In a surprise move meanwhile, Col. Mohammed Dahlan, one of the most powerful officials in the Palestinian security services, said he had resigned.
