Israel Thwarts Bomb Attack, but Fears More to Come
The prime minister's office issued a communiqué today claiming that Israel had foiled 32 terror attacks since the end of the army's extensive military sweep through the West Bank on April 24. But there was a growing sense that whatever lull the operation had brought was already at an end.

Even the defense minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, was openly acknowledging that the recent offensive, in which scores were killed and thousands of Palestinian men were rounded up in Israel's largest military operation in 20 years, had heightened the motivation of Palestinian militants. "We are faced with a wave of suicide bombers," Mr. Ben-Eliezer said today.

The latest suicide bombing attempt came at 2 o'clock this morning, when a Palestinian tried to drive a car packed with pipe bombs into Studio 49, a popular Tel Aviv nightclub where about 200 young Israelis were dancing. A quick-acting security guard, Eli Federman, 36, opened fire on the driver and the car blew up before it could slam into the club. Three people were injured

The Tel Aviv police chief, Yossi Sedron, found himself delivering the same quote to reporters at two different incidents in less than a day: "A huge disaster has been prevented."

The other incident occurred on Thursday when a tanker was blown up by remote control, nearly setting off an explosion in Israel's biggest fuel depot in a congested area of Tel Aviv. Officials said today that the bomb was set off by a cellphone, attached to the bottom of the truck with a magnet and almost impossible to detect

Though many deaths had clearly been avoided this week, the string of incidents left Israelis entering the Sabbath tense and uneasy today, with the foreboding that more attacks were on the way.

The attempt to bomb the nightclub was claimed by Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the nominal offshoot of Yasir Arafat's Fatah organization, but apparently increasingly independent of the old Palestinian leadership.

The brigades produced a videotaped statement identifying the suicide bomber as Amer Shkokani of the West Bank town of El Bireh, who said he was avenging the killing of brigade members by Israel.

On Wednesday, Israeli tank fire killed an Aksa leader, Mahmoud Titi, 30, in a Nablus cemetery.

The group also claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Rishon le Zion later on Wednesday that killed two Israelis and wounded dozens. It called the suicide attacks its "sole weapon to end the occupation of Palestine."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/25/international/middleeast/25MIDE.html?todaysheadlines