Bus Bombed in Galilee; Ambushes Add to New Burst of Violence
The Palestinian attacks have intensified since the airstrike by Israel in Gaza on July 23 that killed Sheik Salah Shehada, the leader of the military wing of Hamas. In the strike, a one-ton bomb hit a densely populated Gaza residential neighborhood, killing 14 Palestinians besides Sheik Shehada, including 9 children. The bomb in a cafeteria at Hebrew University here killed 7 people, 5 of them American, and wounded scores. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Hamas also claimed responsibility for the bus bombing on Sunday, calling it a "further riposte to the killing of our leader," Sheik Shehada, in a statement to the Beirut television station of the Lebanese Hezbollah.

Israeli officials, however, continued to blame the increasingly marginalized Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat — isolated by Israeli troops surrounding his ruined compound and criticized for failure and corruption by many Palestinians — for the actions of Hamas, his rival for power.

Mr. Sharon called off planned meetings with a few newly appointed Palestinian leaders whom the Americans consider to be reformers. Mr. Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin, suggested there was little to talk about with a Palestinian leadership that continued to harbor and support terrorist activity. Another government spokesman, Avi Pazner, said Israel would pursue the bus bombers "without mercy."

Israel also announced a ban on Palestinian travel in much of the West Bank today and sealed off a chunk of the Gaza Strip.

For its part, the Palestinian Authority issued a statement condemning the bus bombing, but it added that Israel's "mass detentions, repressive measures and home demolitions" were responsible for the cycle of violence.

Other attacks on Sunday, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, left one Palestinian man dead and seven people wounded.

Three Israeli settlers were injured near Ramallah, one seriously, when a roadside bomb went off beside their vehicle and shots were fired. Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility.

In another incident in the West Bank, four people were injured, one seriously, when their bus was fired on as it traveled between settlements near Tulkarm. The attack was claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/05/international/middleeast/05MIDE.html