GAZA, 27 February 2005 — Palestinians detained two persons in connection with Friday night’s suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv that President Mahmoud Abbas blamed on “a third party”. The attack, targeting a crowd waiting outside a night club in Tel Aviv, killed five people including the bomber.
After Israeli troops arrested two brothers of the bomber at their home village in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security services detained two suspects in Tulkarm for interrogation.
While the bomber, identified as Abdullah Badran, was understood to have been a member of Islamic Jihad, the leaderships of all the main Palestinian factions distanced themselves from the attack and insisted that they were still committed to an unofficial truce.
Abbas told a morning news conference in Ramallah that a “third party” bent on sabotaging the peace process was behind the attack.
Asked about the possible involvement of Hezbollah, Abbas said: “We are not accusing anybody. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have denied any involvement and, as a consequence, it is therefore a third party which is looking to sabotage the peace process.”
Hezbollah denied it was behind the bombing. The accusations are part of the “incitement which the Zionist enemy (Israel) practices against Hezbollah,” the group said in a statement.
Late yesterday, Israel accused Syria of involvement in the attack and froze plans to transfer security control of West Bank towns to the Palestinians.
“At this point the process of transferring Palestinian cities to Palestinian control is frozen until Israel... evaluates whether (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas’ government is indeed taking the necessary steps against Islamic Jihad and other terror groups,” an Israeli Defense Ministry spokeswoman quoted Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying.
Mofaz’s statement came after an Islamic Jihad official based in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We have proof directly linking Syria to this attack,” army radio quoted Mofaz as telling a meeting of security chiefs in Tel Aviv.
Syria promptly denied the accusations. “Syria has no connection with this operation and the (Damascus) office of this movement (Islamic Jihad) is closed,” a Foreign Ministry official said.
— Additional input from agencies
