Homicide Bomber Kills One in Israel
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Palestinian bomber blew himself up in a restaurant just north of Tel Aviv on Tuesday, killing one Israeli teenager and wounding eight other people. Ten Palestinians, including a 9-year-old boy, died in other violence.
The violence erupted as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in Washington trying to persuade congressional leaders that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is not a partner for peace talks because of persistent Palestinian attacks. Israeli forces surrounded Arafat's West Bank headquarters for a second day.
The bomber blew himself up inside a small, downtown restaurant in the city of Herzliya at 7:50 p.m., killing himself and the teenager and wounding eight other people, witnesses and rescue workers said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}David Baker, an official in Sharon's office, denounced the attack, saying, "The Herzliya terror attack is another example of the Palestinians' intention to commit murder for the sake of murder."
Herzliya Mayor Yael German arrived at the scene a few minutes after the blast.
"It's horrible when innocent civilians, men, women and children, who were just out to get a bite to eat, are hurt in a despicable terror attack," she said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The Palestinian leadership denounced the attack because "it gives Israel a reason to attack the Palestinian people."
Later Tuesday, a 9-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and another 13-year-old boy was injured when Israeli soldiers shot at them near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security and hospital officials said. The army said troops responded to intense firing at an army outpost in the area.
Just before midnight Tuesday, troops killed four armed Palestinians who tried to infiltrate Netzarim, the army said. There was no exchange of fire, but the four carried assault rifles and many ammunition clips, the army said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In the West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinians killed two fellow Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. One body was dragged to the place where Marwan Zalloum, local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militia, was killed in an April 22 Israeli helicopter strike on his car.
The burned-out hulk of the car was still there, a grisly memorial to the militia leader blamed by Israel for directing and carrying out many attacks. The Al Aqsa group claimed responsibility for killing the suspected collaborators, saying in a leaflet that the pair helped Israel spot Zalloum.
The suspected collaborators were the latest of at least 42 killed by Palestinians during more than 20 months of fighting with Israel.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nearly every night, Israeli forces enter Palestinian areas and make arrests. The Israeli military said its raids are guided by intelligence, leading Palestinians to assume some of their people are helping single out suspects. Most Palestinians consider collaborators traitors.
Israeli forces briefly entered the West Bank towns of Tulkarem and Bethlehem on Tuesday, looking for suspects.
Meanwhile, three Israeli teenagers were wounded, one seriously, when a bomb exploded near Hebron after they picked cherries in a field. The 15-year-olds, from a Jewish settlement, were helping with the harvest, as many Israeli teenagers do in the summer. No one claimed responsibility, but Palestinians have carried out dozens of attacks in the area.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Jerusalem, a Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli policeman at Herod's Gate, an entrance to the Old City. The attacker escaped, police said.
Two Palestinians also were killed in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. One was shot by Israeli soldiers after he opened fire on a civilian vehicle, the military said.
Soldiers also found the body of a Palestinian near the fence between Gaza and Israel. He was killed by a bomb that detonated while he was planting it, the military said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Washington, Sharon met with congressional leaders Tuesday, a day after meeting Bush in the White House. An Israeli official expressed satisfaction with the Bush talks, noting that Bush rejected an Egyptian suggestion to set a timetable for creating a Palestinian state and again criticized Arafat.
Bush said "no one has confidence" in the Palestinian leadership and conditions were not right for a peace conference.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo accused Bush of being biased toward Israel, giving Sharon "all the excuses to continue the policy of siege and destruction."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that Bush will meet this week with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister and then "in the very near future" set out his views on achieving Palestinian statehood and bolstering Israel's security.
In Ramallah, Israeli tanks encircled Arafat's battered headquarters. Israeli commanders said their forces did not enter the compound, where three buildings were reduced to rubble last week when Israel retaliated for a homicide bombing that killed 17 Israelis.
Arafat was inside and unharmed, Palestinian officials said, as soldiers built barricades from rubble and dirt on the roads outside.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Palestinian officials also said Israeli troops detained Abdel Rahim Maluh, the second-in-command of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the radical PLO group that claimed responsibility for assassinating an Israeli Cabinet minister in October.
The Israeli military said soldiers arrested 30 Palestinians in Ramallah and found an explosives lab run by Force 17, an elite Palestinian police unit.
Soldiers blew or ripped the doors off several shops, including one that sells lingerie, during searches. It was not known what they found in the lingerie shop.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The town, which serves as the administrative center of the West Bank, was under curfew, confining Palestinians to their homes. The military declared Ramallah off limits to reporters.