Cycle of attacks bloodiest in months
By KARIN LAUB
Associated Press

JERUSALEM — In rapid succession Tuesday, a Palestinian man opened fire on a crowded Tel Aviv nightclub, a suicide bomber blew himself up on an Israeli bus, gunmen ambushed Israeli motorists in the West Bank and a mysterious blast went off in the Gaza Strip.

Five Israelis and three Palestinians were killed in the attacks.

Israel intensified airstrikes, firing missiles at half a dozen targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip late Monday and early Tuesday — including three of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s government compounds. Arafat was a few yards away from one of the areas hit, but was not harmed.

The cycle of attacks and reprisals was one of the bloodiest in 17 months of fighting, and each side said it would hit back even harder.

“We will wage a relentless war against terrorism, because for us its a question of survival,” said Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner, adding that negotiations with the Palestinians could only resume once Israel won that war.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has told reporters the Palestinians would have to be hit hard to understand that Israel will not succumb to violence.

Palestinian militants said they would avenge recent Israeli military strikes, including shelling that killed five Palestinian youngsters Monday. Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Islamic militant Hamas group, said attacks would continue “until the full liberation of Palestine.”

Arafat aide Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the Israeli strikes were a “very serious escalation” and called for U.N. intervention.

Israel’s security Cabinet met Tuesday to assess the army’s response, and Sharon reportedly proposed tightening the cordon of tanks near Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

As the ministers met, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at the Palestinian police headquarters in the West Bank town of Nablus and at a police station in Ramallah. There were no reports of injuries. Earlier in the day, missiles were also fired at security headquarters in the town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, causing severe damage. One man was wounded.

Tuesday’s violence began at around 2:15 a.m. when a Palestinian gunman armed with grenades, a knife and an M-16 assault rifle opened fire on the Seafood Market, an all-night restaurant and nightclub in a commercial district of Tel Aviv, where a group of women was attending a pre-wedding party.

The bride-to-be, Irit Rahamim, said that when the first shots went off, she and her friends dove to the ground. “At one point, there was quiet, and I told all my girlfriends, ‘Let’s run away from here,”’ Rahamim told Israel TV’s Channel Two. She said her friends forced her to stay down. “It’s good they did, because after that, there was more shooting.”

Three Israelis, including a policeman, were killed in the attack, and 31 were injured. One of the patrons, William Hazan, said he fired at the attacker who at the time was stabbing another guest. Police said officers killed the assailant.

The Al Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat’s Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the shooting. The assailant was identified as Ibrahim Hassouna, 20, an officer in the Palestinian naval police and a resident of the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.

Hassouna taped a farewell video, as is customary in suicide missions. Kneeling in prayer, with an automatic rifle and a Quran, the Muslim holy book, by his side, Hassouna said: “Don’t cry for me, mother, be happy ... because I am a martyr, a hero, like the others.”

On Tuesday morning, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in the main station in the central Israeli town of Afula, killing himself and an Israeli passenger and wounding 11 people, police said. The bus driver, Danny Nahum, said the assailant was wearing a heavy coat when he boarded the bus and at first did not want to accept the change after paying his fare. Nahum said the man sat next to the back door, and set off the explosives as the bus pulled into the Afula station.

In the past four days of fighting, 33 Palestinians and 27 Israelis have been killed, one of the sharpest escalations since violence erupted in September 2000.

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