Israel Takes New Actions After Suicide Bomb

J E R U S A L E M, Aug. 10, 2001 -- Israeli F-16 fight jets fired missiles at a Palestinian police station in Ramallah today, hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber set himself off in Israel, killing at least 15 people.

The police station burst into flames, but there was no immediate word of casualties. Many Palestinian police stations have been evacuated in fears of an attack.

The attack followed a late-night meeting by Israeli cabinet officials to determine a response to the bombing. Cabinet officials were unclear on what actions they would take, but some Middle East experts expressed fears that further violence could intensify frictions and spiral into full-out war.

When a suicide bomber attacked a Tel Aviv disco on June 1, killing 22, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon refrained from taking action in order to pressure Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to declare a cease-fire.

Sharon overwhelmingly won an election last year by pledging to put security before peace. He pledged to hit back hard against terrorists, but a continuing campaign of air strikes and assassinations has failed to quell the violence.

The First Stone

The suicide bombing happened hours earlier in a busy downtown pizzeria in the heart of Jerusalem, killing an American an several children, among others.

American Judith Greenbaum of New Jersey was among those killed, and Hanna Tova Nachemberg, 31, of Riverdale, N.Y., was critically wounded, State Department officials told ABCNEWS.

The blast occurred at a Sbarro restaurant in the busy junction of Jaffa and King George roads during lunchtime, when the pizzeria was full of people.

In response to the attack, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat issued a condemnation and called for a joint truce declaration with Israel.

"I denounce the bombing attack that took place in West Jerusalem and I denounce all acts that harm civilians," he said in a statement released by the Palestinian Authority. "I call on the Israeli government to immediately make a joint declaration for a cease-fire and to begin implementingMitchell's recommendations under international supervision."

The Mitchell report, submitted by a panel led by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, calls upon the Palestinians to halt the violence and for Israel to stop construction of settlements in the occupied territories.

Pressure on Arafat

But international pressure on Arafat has mounted considerably since today's bomb attack.

In a statement issued by the White House today, President Bush called on Arafat to "act now."

"Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat must condemn this horrific terrorist attack, act now to arrest and bring to justice those responsible, and take immediate, sustained actionto prevent future terrorist attacks," Bush said in a statementissued in Crawford, Texas, where he is on vacation.

Israeli government spokesman Dori Gold said the bombing had shown Arafat's failure to bring an end to the current situation. "Yasser Arafat utterly failed to fulfill the terms of thiscease-fire and as a result we have 18 Israelis dead," he told The Associated Press.

Palestinian leaders, however, blamed Israeli policy for the continuation of violence, claiming they have no control over the violence.

In a statement released to the press, the Islamic Jihad, a hard-line militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the worst in recent months. The operation was carried out by Hussein Abu Naaseh, a 23-year-old West Bank resident, the statement said. Abu Naaseh was among the 18 dead.

However, a statement released by the militant group Hamas also laid claim to responsibility. In a statement released to Reuters, Hamas identified the suicide bomber as Izz el-Din al-Masri, a 23-year-old man from a village near the West Bank city of Jenin.

ABCNEWS.com's Leela Jacinto in New York and Phu Nguyen at the State Department, and the ABCNEWS Jerusalem bureau contributed to this report.