JERUSALEM – A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded garden cafe across the street from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s walled residential compound Saturday night. Police said 12 people were killed as the Mideast endured another day of widespread violence.
Hours later, missiles fired by Israeli helicopters early today destroyed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s seaside office building in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said. At least 25 missiles fired by Israeli attack helicopters slammed into the compound, collapsing its walls.
In the cafe bombing, the assailant walked into the Moment cafe and detonated explosives, said Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy. Sharon was not at the residence, which is in the central Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia.
“There was a huge explosion, simply atomic,” said one of the cafe’s patrons, who only gave his first name, Eran. “There was smoke everywhere and an acrid smell of gunpowder. People were screaming. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
The militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility in a statement, saying it was “the beginning of retaliatory activities for Sharon’s war on the (Palestinian) refugee camps.” The Al Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, also claimed it had engineered the attack.
Twelve people were killed and about 50 injured, Jerusalem police said.
Despite a flurry of peace-related meetings in Western and Arab capitals, there was no letup in Mideast violence Saturday.
The Jerusalem cafe blast came just two hours after two Palestinian gunmen tossed grenades and opened fire at a seafront hotel in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya. More than 30 people were wounded, police said.
The two Palestinians were chased by police and shot dead in front of a second hotel nearby, Israeli authorities said. A third man was also shot dead and police initially thought he also was a Palestinian gunman, but later confirmed he was an Israeli citizen. It was not clear who shot the Israeli man, police said.
Arafat, who has been urgently seeking international intervention, said he welcomed the U.S. decision to send Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni, who is expected this week.
In Cairo, Arab foreign ministers called on the United States and the United Nations to intervene, and took up a Saudi peace plan that has the backing of many Arab states, though Israel has expressed strong reservations.
Facing pressure from the usually friendly U.S. administration, Sharon said Friday he would ease his longstanding demand for a week of absolute calm before moving forward with a U.S. truce plan.
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