Sharon Calls Off US Visit After
Bomb Kills SevenBy Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
The Guardian
19 May, 2003Ariel Sharon called off a crucial visit to Washington hours after a suicide bomber disguised as an orthodox Jew blew up an Israeli bus yesterday, killing seven passengers.
The first suicide attack in Jerusalem this year was followed minutes later by a second bombing a short distance away, but the attacker detonated the explosives early when he was stopped at a checkpoint and killed only himself.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attacks are widely assumed to have been launched by Hamas or Islamic Jihad in opposition to Saturday evening's meeting between Mr Sharon and the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, who is better known as Abu Mazen.
Last night Israel imposed a "general closure" on the West Bank in response to the killings. Israel radio said it meant Palestinians who have been able until now to continue to work in Israel would be barred from doing so.
Saturday's talks achieved little other than to emphasise the Israeli government's reluctance to embrace the American-led "road map" to peace, which envisages a Palestinian state within three years.
The postponement of Mr Sharon's visit to Washington will be a further blow to the Palestinian leadership, which has appealed to President George Bush to put pressure on the Israeli prime minister.
Israel radio named yesterday's bus bomber as Bassem Jamal Takrouri, 19, an engineering student from Hebron. He detonated the explosives shortly before 6am in the French Hill area of east Jerusalem, a part of the city seized by Israel in 1967 and since settled by Jews.
The blast tore a hole in the front of the bus, and left some of the victims with horrific injuries, but others among the dead were still sitting in their seats with no signs of injury.
The bomber was a neighbour of a 21-year-old Hamas supporter who the army believes was responsible for a suicide attack on a settlement in Hebron that killed a Jewish couple shortly before the two prime ministers met.
The Israeli army briefly imposed a curfew on the Palestinian capital, Ramallah, and threw up roadblocks around Jerusalem.
Israeli officials said yesterday's attack reaffirmed the government's determination not to embrace the road map until Mr Abbas is deemed to be taking strong enough steps to combat terrorism.
"We are not facing the road map right now, we are facing the trail of blood and terror," said Mr Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin. "This map is a bloody map, not a map that leads to anything."
Mr Sharon had made terrorism the core of his demands of Mr Abbas at their meeting.
"The time has come for action, for a real war on terror we won't be able to be forthcoming with you until you begin doing real work," Mr Sharon told the Palestinian prime minister, according to the Israeli press.
For his part, Mr Abbas appealed for Mr Sharon to commit himself to the road map, an end to assassinations of Palestinian militants, and steps to ease blockades and curfews. He also asked for an end to the construction of the security fence being built around the bulk of the population in the West Bank.
Afterwards Mr Abbas issued a statement expressing disappointment at Mr Sharon's intransigence. "The road map can only succeed if Israel clearly accepts the road map in its entirety," he said.
Palestinian officials say they are doubtful that anything but an ultimatum by Mr Bush will persuade Mr Sharon to take the road map seriously. They note that in recent days Mr Sharon has pressed for more than a dozen amendments to the peace plan, has ruled out closing Jewish settlements and has continued military raids and assassinations in the occupied territories.
The Palestinians say Mr Sharon has also done little to bolster the authority of the politically weak Mr Abbas, the man the Israelis say they are counting on to deliver peace.