Blast hits Israeli mall
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0D7092E8-E1D6-49BE-AD5E-72400ADA253F.htm



Tuesday 12 July 2005, 22:30 Makka Time, 19:30 GMT


A bomber has blown himself up in the coastal city of Netanya in Israel,
killing at least three people including himself, security sources said.



The explosion hit a shopping mall shortly before 7pm on Tuesday in Netanya,
12km from the West Bank.



Channel 10 television, quoting Israeli police, said three people had been
killed.



"We heard an explosion, people began to scream and ran to the other exit of
the mall," Laura, a shop assistant at the Kenyon Hasharon mall told Israeli
army radio.


Israeli sources said at least 30 people were wounded.




The al-Quds brigades, linked to the Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility for the attack, reported Aljazeera.



The assailant came from the Tulkarim area, said the Aljazeera correspondent
Walid al-Omari.



Condemnation



In Ram Allah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned as "idiotic" the
bombing and said those behind it would be punished.



"This was a crime against the Palestinian people and those who were behind it
must be working against our people's interest and must be punished," Abbas
told reporters.



"Those behind it were behaving idiotically. There is no rational Palestinian
who can conduct such an act at the time Israel was withdrawing from ...
settlements starting in Gaza and moving to the West Bank," he said, referring
to upcoming Israeli withdrawal from occupied land Palestinians want for a
state.



The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, condemned the bombing. "We
understand that those who carried out this attack want to sabotage the efforts
being exerted to have a smooth and peaceful disengagement from Gaza and a
revival of the peace process," he said.


A source close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the latest attack
was proof that the Palestinian Authority was "doing nothing to stop
terrorism".


Aljazeera + Agencies