Suicide Bombings Dim Hopes for U.S.-Backed Peace Plan

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the most recent attack. The militant Palestinian group Hamas claimed responsibility for four other bombings over the weekend, including a Jerusalem bus attack that killed seven Israelis.

Meeting after the first three attacks, the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday decided the country’s officials would no longer meet with foreign leaders who also want to hold talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, unnamed sources told several news agencies. But the Cabinet reiterated its commitment to talks with the new, reform-minded prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and the United States have been boycotting Arafat, saying he is tainted by terrorism.

Israel also reaffirmed there will be no letup in its campaign against those involved in violence. A Cabinet statement released Sunday said Israel “will continue to fight terror everywhere, at any time and in any way possible.”

The latest blast went off at 5:14 p.m. local time at the Shaarei Amakim mall in the northern town of Afula near one of the mall entrances, where shoppers were waiting in line for a security check.

The attacker, who the area police chief said may have been a woman, apparently detonated the explosive after encountering a security guard.

Rescue workers in the town, which lies close to the border with the West Bank, said four people and the bomber were killed and at least 15 people were wounded, some seriously.

The bombing at the shopping center came after another suicide attack earlier Monday in which a Palestinian suicide bomber injured three Israeli soldiers when he blew himself up near an army jeep.

In a faxed claim of responsibility for the attack on the soldiers, Hamas said “we will not stop our resistance as long as one Zionist continues to breathe our air.”

Hamas also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed a Jewish settler and his pregnant wife in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday.

On Sunday, a bomber blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus during morning rush hour, killing seven people. Another bomber struck soon afterwards at a nearby roadblock and killed only himself.

The attacks occurred hours after Abbas met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Saturday for the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian talks in three years.

Abbas has denounced violence against Israelis, but also told Sharon that he wants to persuade the militants to stop attacks, rather than disarm them by force.

The Israeli army Monday demolished the home of the bomber who carried out the attack in Hebron in what it called “a message to suicide terrorists and their partners in terror.” In other violence, the army shot dead a 13-year-old youth during clashes in northern Gaza on Sunday.

The army also announced on Sunday it was sealing off the West Bank, tightening its already firm grip on the Palestinian territories.

Sharon had been due to meet President Bush on Tuesday to voice reservations about the “road map” and its reciprocal steps leading to a Palestinian state by 2005, but canceled his trip after Sunday’s bus bombing. Abbas’ government has endorsed the plan, however Sharon’s has not.

In spite of the recent bombings, President Bush said Monday he was confident in the Middle East peace process and would continue to pursue his plan for peace in the region.

“I’ve got confidence we can move the peace process forward,” Bush said in a news conference with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “The road map still stands… We’re still on the road to peace. It’s just going to be a bumpy road and I’m not going to get off the road until we achieve the vision.”