New attacks spur debate on use of military in West Bank

JERUSALEM -- The latest acts of Palestinian terrorism have intensified a debate in Israel regarding the continued military presence in the West Bank.

The two attacks -- in the West Bank on Tuesday and in Tel Aviv on Wednesday -- followed a nearly monthlong lull in terror attacks on Israeli civilians.

Israeli security officials attributed the lull in part to the tight military clampdown on Palestinian cities. The army launched its massive anti-terror operation in the West Bank after 31 Israelis were killed in three successive attacks in mid-June.

Advocates of the army's anti-terror operation in the West Bank say it has prevented numerous attacks and led to the arrests of more than 150 suspected terrorists.

But some officials in the security establishment have warned that the measures being taken, including prolonged curfews, are creating a pressure-cooker situation among Palestinian civilians that could blow up in Israel's face.

With that in mind, the Israeli government last week renewed contacts with Palestinian Authority officials with the aim of finding ways to ease sanctions on the Palestinian civilian population.

The army, meanwhile, has taken steps to ease curfews, and reportedly made preparations to reduce its presence in areas that are quiet.

Amid the debate over the army's actions, the newly appointed Israel Defense Force chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, warned Tuesday that pulling Israeli soldiers out of the West Bank now would be seen by the Palestinians as surrender.

"A withdrawal from the Palestinian Authority territories at this time will not ensure a halt to terror but will be interpreted as a capitulation that will hurt Israel's deterrent capabilities on all fronts," Ya'alon was quoted as telling a Knesset committee.

Comparing the Israeli army's current policy to a blanket to smother fires, Ya'alon said, "Where there is quiet, the blanket will be removed, as is currently happening in Jericho and Hebron. In places where the shooting continues, we cannot remove it."

Following Tuesday's terror attack, Israel canceled talks planned for Wednesday with Palestinian officials.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres announced the cancellation Tuesday after meeting with the Israeli panel coordinating Israel's position in the recently renewed talks with Palestinian officials.

On Wednesday, Peres said the talks were postponed for several days.

"We didn't stop negotiations with the Palestinians," Peres said Wednesday. "We postponed them for two or three days" while Israelis mourn the "young and the old who were brutally murdered" in a terror attack Tuesday in the West Bank.

Also on Wednesday, Israeli warplanes fired on a building in the Gaza Strip. Israeli sources said the building was used by Hamas as a factory to produce mortars and rockets. Palestinian sources said the factory was a metal shop.

Following Tuesday's terror ambush, Palestinian Authority official Nabil Sha'ath was quoted as telling Abu Dhabi Television that Israel bears responsibility for the attack as long as it continues to control Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

For their part, Israeli officials blamed Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat for Tuesday's attack.

Political sources in Jerusalem were quoted as saying that as long as Arafat remains at the head of the Palestinian Authority and meaningful reforms are not implemented, the attacks will continue.

On Wednesday, a senior Palestinian official said Arafat may consider the appointment of a Palestinian prime minister.

Arafat would be open to the idea of having a prime minister run the day-to-day affairs of government if a Palestinian state is declared after January elections, Cabinet member Nabil Sha'ath said.

Arafat "says in an independent state there needs to be a prime minister," Sha'ath said. "The prime minister solves a lot of daily problems that the president should not address."

Ra'anan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the idea of Arafat remaining as president was acceptable to Israel "as long as Arafat does not stand in the way" of significant reforms.

"The question is how to make it so his influence is not harmful."

At press time, two suicide bombers had struck near the old Central Bus Station in southern Tel Aviv, killing at least three bystanders and wounding 30. The bombings, which occurred on Tisha B'Av, came just one day after Palestinian terrorists killed eight Israelis in an attack near the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Emanuel.

In Tuesday's attack -- which was hauntingly similar to one carried out last December -- Palestinian terrorists set off a bomb as a bus neared the entrance to Emanuel. In December, 10 Israelis were killed and 23 wounded.

Tuesday's terrorists, who were dressed in Israeli army uniforms, opened fire as people fled the bus, witnesses said.

On Wednesday, the toll rose from seven to eight. Among the dead was one infant who had not yet entered the world when the terrorists struck. A second infant was one of three generations of one family wiped out.

The premature baby died Wednesday after his mother, Yehudit Weinberg, 22, was wounded in the attack. She was eight months pregnant when the emergency Caesarean section was performed. Weinberg was reported in serious condition Wednesday.

The other infant killed in Tuesday's attack was 9-month-old Tiferet Sarah Shilon. Her father, Gal, 35, and grandmother, Zilpa Kashi, 69, were also killed. Tiferet's mother and two siblings -- a twin sister, Galia Esther, and a 30-month-old brother, Or-Chaim -- were wounded in the attack.

The other victims in the attack, all from Emanuel, were identified as Galila Ades, 46; Yonatan Gamliel, 16; Karen Kashani, 20; and Ilana Siton, 35. Sixteen people remained hospitalized Wednesday.

Along with the fatalities, at least 15 were wounded, seven of them seriously.

The well-planned ambush occurred around 3 p.m. as the bus was arriving at Emanuel from Bnei Brak.

Along with firing at the passengers fleeing the bus, the terrorists also threw grenades. Some of the victims were in nearby cars.

Ambulances and army helicopters were brought in to treat the wounded and evacuate them to nearby hospitals, as security forces launched a search for the attackers.

Josiah Harrari, a volunteer on a local rescue team who helped treat the wounded, described the scene as a "horrible massacre."