U.S. pushes truce effort despite Israel bus bomb

A Palestinian suicide bomber killed seven people on a bus in northern Israel yesterday but the United States said it still held out hope for the success of its Middle East envoy's truce mission.

The attack on a rush-hour bus from Tel Aviv to Nazareth, claimed by Islamic Jihad and condemned by the Palestinian Authority, was the most lethal incident since U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni arrived on Thursday to try to end 18 months of bloodshed.

Hours after the blast, Zinni chaired talks between Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs in Tel Aviv that officials on both sides said they hoped would produce an agreement for a ceasefire.

U.S. President George W. Bush said he was "frustrated" with the violence and called on Arafat "to be diligent and firm and consistent in his efforts to rein in those who would like to disrupt any progress toward peace".

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that, despite the bombing, the president "remains hopeful that General Zinni will be able to accomplish" his truce mission.

Police and witnesses said the bomber had boarded the bus in the Israeli Arab town of Umm El Fahem while it was packed with Israeli soldiers, Arab labourers and other travellers.

One passenger, Liraz Shiron, told Israeli television the bomber looked at her and smiled before detonating explosives strapped to his body.

Seven passengers, four of them soldiers, as well as the bomber were killed and 27 wounded when the blast tore through the vehicle, spraying body parts and debris across the highway.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, calling the bombing "very grave", said Arafat had "not relinquished his policy of terrorism". But security sources said Israel was unlikely to retaliate, to avoid accusations of undermining Zinni.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said that the former Marine Corps General had proposed that the security session yesterday night not adjourn until a deal was sealed. He said he expected a truce would be clinched by the weekend.

On the table is a ceasefire plan charted in June by U.S. CIA Director George Tenet and a Palestinian demand to link its implementation to the start of wider political moves leading to the resumption of talks on a permanent peace.

The bombing came a day after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney visited Israel and held out the prospect of an early meeting with Arafat if he enforced the Tenet ceasefire blueprint, a condition reiterated by the White House which said any meeting "depends on Chairman Arafat and on what he's going to do".

The Palestinian Authority condemned the bus bombing and called for a halt to civilian killings inside Israel.

Witnesses said the bomber, named by Islamic Jihad as Ra'fat Abu Dyak, had blown himself up in the middle of the bus.

"He argued a bit with the driver...and then walked to the centre of the bus and then I noticed he was wearing a coat and when he sat down I saw something inside," Vadim Weinfus, a soldier on the bus, told Israel Radio.

Weinfus said he tried to load his army rifle to fire: "Just as I was going to insert the ammunition clip to stop this guy somehow - because I was sure this was it - he exploded."

The Tenet plan calls for Israel to pull back troops to the positions held in the West Bank and Gaza before the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000.

Under the plan, Palestinian authorities would be expected to arrest militants and confiscate illegal arms.

The sides would then gradually resume peace talks under a plan spelling out confidence-building measures, such as a freeze in Jewish settlement construction, proposed by an international committee led by former U.S. senator George Mitchell.

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