As bombs and guns once more fire in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Palestinians and some Israelis ponder the cease-fire that might have been, reports Graham Usher from Jerusalem Click to view caption In what appears to be an inexorably rising tide of violence a bomb blast tore through a cafeteria at the Hebrew University in East Jerusalem yesterday, killing at least seven people and injuring 50. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in revenge for the killing of 17 Palestinians, including 11 children, in Gaza on 22 July. Eerlier on Tuesday, Palestinians killed two Israelis and wounded nine in two attacks on Jewish settlers in the West Bank and -- for the first time in six weeks -- a suicide bombing in Israeli West Jerusalem. The West Jerusalem bomber was Majed Atta, a 17-year-old from Beit Jala near Bethlehem. Approached by Israeli police on Jerusalem's main Jaffa Road, he dived into a fast-food bar and exploded, probably prematurely. He killed himself and wounded seven civilians, all lightly. It was the first attack in Israeli West Jerusalem since June, when two bombers claimed by Hamas and Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades killed 26 Israelis on consecutive days. The blast came within hours of two Palestinian attacks on Jewish settlers and settlements near the West Bank town of Nablus, re-occupied and under army curfew for most of the last month and a half. In the first a Palestinian armed with a knife stabbed a settler in the settlement of Itamar. He was eventually killed after a long arm-to-arm wrestle. In the second Palestinian guerrillas shot and killed two settlers stopping to sell diesel fuel to a cement factory in the Palestinian village of Jammain. The gunmen fled. The surge in violence was "additional proof of the Palestinian game plan, which is to terrorise as many Israelis as possible", said David Baker, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. For Palestinians it was the predictable backlash from Israel's bombing in Gaza that targetted the leader of Hamas's military wing, Salah Shehada. Aside from the violence, the Gaza carnage has frozen the tentative contacts that had started to re-emerge between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. There have been no security, economic or political meetings of any kind since 22 July. On Wednesday the PA's new finance minister, Salem Fayyad, said he would not accept Israel's transfer of $15 million out of the $450 million it owes the PA in tax revenues, frozen since the Intifada started in September 2000. Israel had conditioned payment of the money on it not going into PA accounts or being spent on Palestinian police forces. Palestinians say the assassination and carnage stymied the most serious attempt at a Palestinian cease-fire in seven months. The full text of the cease-fire declaration was published on Tuesday in Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper. Authored by grass-roots leaders from Fatah -- and nurtured by Arab and European diplomats -- they vow "to do everything in our power to end attacks on Israeli civilians, on innocent men, women and children ... without seeking or demanding any prior gains". The cease-fire is "not a surrender", emphasise the signatories, who reserve Palestinians' right to resist Israel's "military occupation of our lands and cities, the building of settlements, the house demolitions and the plan to deport our people". But it insists "peace cannot be built on a platform of violence against innocents" and pledges "the suicide bombings will be brought to an end -- by us. Now." The text had been finalised on 22 July, one and a half hours before the one-ton Israeli bomb slammed into Gaza City. Israeli officials said they knew about the initiative, but dismissed it. On Monday Israel's Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the signatories were "political leaders" with little authority over Fatah's military arm, the Al- Aqsa Brigades, and even less over Shehada's Izzadin Al-Qassam militia. Fatah leaders say the cease-fire was serious. It had the backing of the Tanzim's currently imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouti, who carries enormous weight with the Al-Aqsa Brigades. It also had the conditional support of Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. On 22 July he offered an end to attacks on Israeli civilians in return for Israel's withdrawal from the recently reoccupied Palestinian cities, freedom for recently arrested Palestinians and an end to Israel's assassinations of Palestinian leaders. However, after the Gaza attack, Hamas leaders said they would not take part in any further cease-fire talks. In any event, the cease- fire is now history. Tuesday's attacks in Jerusalem and Jammain were claimed by the Al-Aqsa Brigades. And Hamas has promised vengeance for Shehada's killing "in Haifa, in Tel Aviv, in Hadera", all Israeli cities. Yesterday's attack at the Hebrew University in East Jerusalem shows beyond doubt that they are determined to keep that promise. Related stories: Burying the ceasefire Bombs and pogroms No rules, no borders 25 - 31 July 2002 Fostering grief and revenge 25 - 31 July 2002
