MIDDLE EAST: Extremist Palestinian factions rushed to claim responsibility last night for a sophisticated and bloody attack on a bus outside a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, in which seven Israelis were killed, including a grandmother, her baby grandchild and her son-in-law. Among the critically injured was a baby, delivered prematurely by Caesarian in hospital last night after the mother was badly hurt, reports David Horovitz, in Jerusalem
The bombing and shooting attack took place near the entrance to the settlement of Emmanuel, southwest of Nablus, at almost the same spot as a similar incident, in which 11 Israelis were killed, last December. Families from the settlement who suffered casualties in that attack were again among the victims yesterday.
The Israeli army was last night trying to trace the three men it said carried out the attack. The trio detonated two roadside bombs as the bus passed by, and then threw grenades and opened fire on it as it came to a halt and lurched to one side. The bus was bullet-proofed, but the gunmen had positioned themselves on a small hill, and fired at the roof, which was not protected. They then moved closer to the bus and fired dozens, if not hundreds, of bullets at the passengers from close range.
Mr Avraham Shalom, the security officer of the mainly ultra-Orthodox settlement, said he drove to the scene immediately after the bombs were detonated, saw what he thought were three soldiers emerging from behind the bus, and asked if he could help.
"Before I could finish the sentence, all three opened fire on me," he said. Other eyewitnesses confirmed that the gunmen were wearing Israeli army uniforms.
The force of the bomb-blasts apparently locked shut all doors to the bus, and the fire-brigade had to prise them open before the wounded could be treated. "People were lying in pools of blood on the floor," said a paramedic.
"It was heartbreaking," added fireman Mr Assaf Yitzhaki. "The people were trapped in the bus, pleading for help." The attack ended almost a month's respite from major strikes at Israeli targets - a lull that coincided with the Israeli army's re-invasion of the West Bank following two suicide bombings in Jerusalem.
Statements from Hamas, from the Tanzim militia of Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction and from two other Palestinian groups, all claiming credit for the carefully planned attack, underlined the sense of "success" that it had been carried out despite the massive Israeli army presence and the prolonged curfews.
Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority issued a general condemnation of all killings of civilians. But his aides asserted that PA security forces could not have been expected to prevent it, since Israel had effectively retaken security responsibility. Mr Saeb Erekat, the former senior PA peace negotiator, said Israel's re-invasion of the West Bank was to blame for the incident.
However, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon held the PA responsible because, officials said, Mr Arafat and his fellow leaders were deliberately encouraging such attacks while purporting, for international consumption, to oppose them.
The attack came as the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, convened talks in New York with fellow members of the would-be peacemaking "quartet" - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, EU foreign police chief Mr Javier Solana and Russia Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov. The quartet said they backed Palestinian statehood within three years and the US call for major PA reforms, but Mr Powell stood alone in the demand for Mr Arafat's removal. The quartet was meeting later with the Jordanian, Egyptian and Saudi foreign ministers.
The Bush Administration, condemning the attack, said it underlined the need to work with "leaders in the Palestinian Authority who are dedicated to peace". Mr Powell said the US was "willing to consider" a formula, being discussed by the quartet, under which Mr Arafat would be "kicked upstairs" to a symbolic role, with the practical running of the PA in the hands of an elected prime minister.
Given that the army is already deployed in almost all major West Bank cities, government officials said that further military reaction was unlikely. Some hardline opposition members of the Knesset demanded that the army disarm the PA.
One of them, Mr Eliezer Cohen, urged that, when the village from which the attackers came had been identified, residents should be ordered to evacuate it and it should then be razed.
"This would put an end to such attacks," he said.