Israel razes home of bomber

A Palestinian woman, supporter of the radical Palestinian group Hamas movement, demonstrates calling for the release of Palestinian women held in Israeli jails in the West Bank City of Nablus yesterday. Hamas said that it was committed to its ceasefire with Israel a day after its armed wing carried out a suicide bombing near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Photo: AFP

Two suicide bombers from Nablus killed two Israelis in back-to-back attacks on Tuesday in what their militant factions said were acts of revenge for an army raid in Nablus that killed two wanted Hamas men in the West Bank city.

Before Palestinian faction chiefs declared a truce, suicide bombings often brought sledgehammer Israeli counter-strikes with tanks or missiles. This time Israel said it was committed to achieving calm to advance on the "road map" plan for peace.

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The fact that Israelis are enjoying their first relatively quiet summer for three years with a revival of tourism crucial to the economy also militated against a swift relapse into the cycle of tit-for-tat bloodshed that scuttled previous diplomacy.

Israeli forces settled for demolishing the home of Khamis Jarwan, 17, from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who blew himself up in an Israeli supermarket. The demolition in Nablus's Askar refugee camp in the pre-dawn hours left 12 people homeless.

"The demolition of houses of terrorists sends a message to suicide bombers and their partners that anyone who participated in terrorist activity will pay a price for their actions," the Israeli Army said in a statement.

The other suicide bomber, who killed a Jewish settler at a West Bank bus stop, also lived in Askar near the Jarwan family. Israeli army bulldozers remained in the neighborhood, raising the possibility that the second bomber's house would go as well.

Islamic militant chiefs suggested the attacks were a one-off reaction and said they still stood by the truce they declared along with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

A senior ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel was not abandoning the peace push despite the attacks.

Senior political leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi of Hamas, which is sworn to destroying Israel, dismissed the notion of Palestinian authorities dismantling it.

AFP from Paris reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday urged his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas to make a priority of wrenching control of the Palestinian security services and finances away from veteran leader Yasser Arafat.

Speaking in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro, Sharon congratulated Abbas on making efforts to improve security on a day to day basis, but complained that nothing has been done as yet to attack the roots of terrorism.

"The first reform that Mahmud Abbas must put in place is to attack the monopoly of Arafat over the security services," said Sharon, in comments reproduced in French.

"At the same time, he must deprive him (Arafat) of control of the money and therefore the distribution of wages," added Sharon, whose comments were published a day after two teenage suicide bombers killed two Israelis and wounded 12 others in twin blasts at a shopping mall and West Bank settlement.