Twin suicide operations in Tel Aviv have caused all hell to break loose. Khaled Amayreh reports from occupied Jerusalem In apparent retaliation for wanton and unmitigated Israeli killings of Palestinian civilians -- which claimed more than 60 Palestinian lives in December alone -- two Palestinian suicide- bombers carrying backpacks full of explosives blew themselves up simultaneously in the heart of Tel Aviv shortly after sunset on Sunday. Both blasts killed as many as 23 people, including the two Palestinian bombers, 15 Israeli Jews and 6 foreign workers. At least one of those killed was an Israeli soldier. Approximately 100 Israelis and foreign workers were injured in the explosions, a few quite badly. Islamic Jihad initially claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying it was in retaliation for "the daily slaughter of our people by the Israeli military machine". However, it became clear a few hours later that a renegade faction within Fatah, the mainstream PLO faction, was behind the operation. A leaflet published by Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, on Monday identified the two guerrillas as Buraq Khala'a and Samir Nuri, both from Nablus and in their early 20s. The leaflet denounced "those defeatists among Fatah who were trying to distance themselves from the martyrs". It also warned that "the time when the blood of our people is shed freely and without being avenged has passed." The weak but enduring Palestinian Authority (PA) strongly condemned the bombings, promising to pursue the perpetrators and their accomplices. "The PA strongly condemns the terrorist operation in Tel Aviv which caused loss of life among Israeli civilians and foreign workers. The leadership declares its resolve to act against the perpetrators and planners of the operation." The PA also urged the international community to enable the mostly paralysed Palestinian security forces to re-establish law and order within the autonomous enclaves. PA Information Official Yasser Abd-Rabbo, a prominent critic of suicidal bombings inside Israel, went on to accuse the perpetrators of "handing Ariel Sharon a free present", arguing that the Israeli prime minister would exploit the bombings to increase his popularity in the coming elections and commit further atrocities against the Palestinian people. Israel wasted no time in fulfilling Abd-Rabbo's prediction. On 6 January, only a few hours after the bombings, Israeli tanks and Apache helicopters launched wanton midnight attacks on civilian neighbourhoods in the central section of the Gaza Strip, terrorising sleeping civilians, wreaking havoc on homes and small businesses and injuring numerous innocent people. Palestinians reported that at least two family- owned metal workshops were destroyed. The Israeli rationale for rocketing and destroying these small businesses is that they were used to manufacture primitive missiles for Palestinian guerrilla groups. There is evidence to suggest that these claims are false and that the real motive for recurring Israeli raids is to undermine the local economy and deprive more Palestinian families of their livelihood. Israeli bulldozers also razed streets and other civilian infrastructures in several localities, one of which was Dura, 13 kilometres west of Hebron. Bulldozers dug deep trenches across the town's main streets and placed huge ramparts of rocks and dirt at the exits and entrances, effectively cutting off the town's population of 25,000 from the rest of the world. Telephone links to the outside world were also destroyed. According to local sources, Israeli soldiers warned citizens in Dura that their homes would be destroyed if they attempted to remove the ramparts and dirt piles. In once instance, the Israeli army destroyed a small tractor for making a gap in the roadblock. The roadblock had been breached to allow an ambulance to take a critically ill elderly woman to hospital in Hebron. The Palestinian mayor of Dura quoted an Israeli officer as saying, "'we won't allow anybody to leave the town; those who are ill can die here. We would like to see all of you dead; man, woman and child.'" It is not clear yet how the Tel Aviv bombings -- which prove that Israeli security measures alone are incapable of preventing Palestinian guerrilla attacks -- will affect the Egyptian- sponsored and mediated talks between various Palestinian factions in Cairo. The Egyptian government seems determined to convince the Palestinian resistance groups to agree to some form of a cease-fire in return for a prospective Israeli withdrawal from autonomous areas, including Palestinian population centres. And Palestinian groups are also willing, at least in principle, to accept a cease-fire draft that would reduce the Israeli army grip on the daily life of Palestinians. The Israeli government has actually expressed a lot of consternation at the talks and at one point accused the Egyptian government of "interfering in the Israeli elections", slated for 28 January. Some Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his even more hawkish Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, seem to be convinced that any cease-fire or even semblance of calm in the lead-up to the elections would work against the Likud Party, causing, for instance, some centrist voters to move leftward towards the Labour Party or so-called peace camp. On Tuesday morning, Israeli troops killed three Palestinians during an incursion into the Maghazi refugee camp in the Central Gaza strip, Palestinian security forces said. The bodies of Nassim Abu-Meluha, 25, and Baker Abu-Khudra, also 25, from the Palestinian National Security Forces were found on Tuesday morning, while 28-year-old Iyad Abu-Zayad was killed in his car by heavy machine-gun fire from an Israeli helicopter, sources reported. This brings the Intifada death toll to 2,840 since it started 27 months ago. Former Chief of the Mossad Ephraim Halevy was due to arrive in Cairo for talks with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Soliman. It is expected that Soliman will press the Israeli envoy for "reciprocal action" in return for the contemplated cease-fire or moratorium on Palestinian attacks inside Israel. However, in light of what the Sharon government is doing and has been doing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the Intifada, it is highly unlikely that Sharon will change his ways, less than three weeks before an election that could decide the mood of the region for at least four years to come. The latest bombings in Tel Aviv may even harden his stance.
