A Palestinian suicide bomber killed three Israelis on Thursday night in the first such attack in the West Bank this year. The bombing, which destroyed a car at the entrance to the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, comes at a sensitive time, as negotiations to form a new coalition government are under way in Israel and the new Hamas administration in the occupied territories seeks international recognition, under pressure to renounce violence.
The Israeli military said the bomber appeared to have disguised himself as an ultra-orthodox Jew and may have been given a lift by Israelis in a car, who he then blew up. The victims were said to be two women and a man, although the police said their bodies were so badly burned they would take time to identify.
Responsibility for the attack, at a petrol station outside Kedumim, was claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade faction in nearby Nablus. It identified the bomber as coming from Hebron.
The suicide bombing was the first in the West Bank since December. Israel’s Acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has made no secret of his intent to draw Israel’s final borders within four years, using the fortified West Bank barrier as a frontier.
The United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, on Thursday said Washington would prefer Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians under the auspices of the ”road map” peace plan, but talks were not possible while Hamas was in power and refused to recognise Israel or renounce violence. ”I wouldn’t on the face of it just say absolutely we don’t think there’s any value in what the Israelis are talking about,” said Rice. ”But we can’t support it because we don’t know. We haven’t had a chance to talk to them about what they have in mind.”
Olmert plans to remove about 70 000 Jewish settlers who live east of the barrier, but to annex the three major settlement blocks to the west as Israeli territory. The blocks are home to about 80% of the settlers.
Officials close to Olmert said they interpreted Rice’s statement as support for continued unilateral moves. Two years ago US President George Bush wrote to the then prime minister, Ariel Sharon, endorsing Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza without negotiation with the Palestinians, and agreeing that Israel would annex the main settlement blocks. Bush has invited Olmert to Washington to discuss policy, once the Israeli leader has formed a coalition.
Rice also praised the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, as a man of peace. ”I think that he still is someone who stands for the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” But she said there was little prospect for talks with the Hamas government installed this week. ”If you are going to have a negotiation you have to have partners and the Palestinian government does not accept the concept of a negotiated solution,” she said.
As the major parties in the new Israeli Parliament manoeuvred for advantage ahead of coalition negotiations, Olmert’s Kadima and the Labour party, which have 29 and 20 seats respectively, both laid down markers for control of the powerful finance ministry.
Olmert said his party would not relinquish the post, but was prepared to offer Labour ministries such as education and an expanded industry, trade and labour portfolio – issues close to the heart of the Labour leader, Amir Peretz. – Guardian Unlimited Â