Eight killed by suicide bomber from refugee camp

Middle East

Sharon snubs new calls for retreat resolve

Eight killed by suicide bomber from refugee camp

Hizbollah steps up attacks on northern border

Monk shot in besieged Basilica of the Nativity

Jenin: 'Soldier shot my mother in the head'

Powell to increase pressure on Sharon

Netanyahu insists military action must go on

Angry backbenchers accuse Blair of double standards

Donald Macintyre: The PM and his party are not enjoying their Pinteresque dialogue

Simon Carr: What Blair lacked in certainty he certainly made up for in banality

David Horovitz: This is why the Israelis support Mr Sharon's tactics

Israel's claim that its military assault in the West Bank is an effective means of crushing Palestinian "terrorism" was dramatically undermined early yesterday morning by a human bomb on a bus close to the northern port of Haifa.

Eight people, including two 18-year-old policewomen, were killed by a suicide bomber on a crowded inter-city bus from Haifa to Jerusalem as Hamas served notice that the offensive in the occupied territories had failed to curb its capacity for attacks on civilians inside Israel. Among the dead was 18-year-old Noa Shlomo, the teenage niece of Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Yehuda Lancry. At least 12 people were wounded in the bombing.

The bomber, who also died, boarded bus 960 at the main bus station in Haifa at morning rush hour, sitting near the front among the passengers. About 20 minutes later he detonated an extremely powerful bomb.

"I saw people blown out of the windows by the force of the explosion ... I saw hands and legs and other body parts on the road. There was a lot of panic," said Eli Levy, a motorist who helped the wounded.

The bomber struck a day before the arrival of the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, whose visit has been the subject of growing criticism among European and Arab diplomats, who accuse him of going on a pointless Mediterranean odyssey instead of to the core of the worsening crisis.

Hamas sources said the attacker was a 22-year-old from Jenin refugee camp, scene of battles in which at least 150 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers have been killed. It is not clear when he left the camp.

The Israeli government cited the attack – the first for more than a week – as justification for continuing its assault on the West Bank, despite unusually angry demands from the United States, reinforced yesterday by the EU, UN and Russia, to withdraw immediately from recently invaded towns and camps.

Israel pointed an accusing finger at Yasser Arafat, blaming him again for failing to stop suicide bombers – a task complicated by his isolation, the destruction of his security apparatus, and the deep currents of hatred caused on the streets by the Israeli attacks.

To the disgust of Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, who is trying to persuade the Americans to ignore Mr Arafat, General Powell is insisting on visiting the Palestinian leader this weekend in Ramallah.

Palestinian officials said the suicide bomb was proof that Israel's offensive had failed. The attack did not diminish the demands from the White House for Israel to pull back, although these were coupled with the usual calls for Mr Arafat to clamp down on militias.

The prospects for General Powell's visit seem dismal, and there is a risk that he will suffer the same fate as his envoy, General Anthony Zinni, whose arrival coincided with a vast surge of bloodshed and has yet to produce any signs of diplomatic progress.

It is clear that the Americans will need to do much more than repeat their usual mantra of appealing for Israel to show restraint, for the Palestinians to round up extremists and for both to comply with the dog-eared Tenet-Mitchell ceasefire plans.

Israel's mood was hardened by the horrific Passover bombing a fortnight ago; the army's offensive was largely welcomed, not least because it produced a lull in attacks after 126 Israelis were killed in March alone.

The killing of 15 Israeli soldiers – all but one in a sophisticated ambush in Jenin on Tuesday – was widely seen as an inevitable consequence of war. Mr Sharon still appears set on bludgeoning the Palestinians into surrendering.

Nor is it at all certain that the Palestinians could enforce a ceasefire, even if they tried. It would now be impossible for Mr Arafat to arrest militants – as the Tenet agreement demands – as the 3.5 million Palestinians of the occupied territories see them as heroic fighters defending their homes against an invading army.

Mr Arafat will want a ceasefire to be preceded by withdrawal and accompanied by guarantees of political progress such as a freeze on Israel's illegal settlement building or the deployment of international observers.

Mr Sharon, with his vision of building an enlarged Israel on the West Bank, has always opposed such moves.

The last few days have demonstrated that he is willing to ignore his closest allies – who rarely play genuine hardball with Israel. General Powell will need more than persuasive arguments to calm the region and allow President Bush to continue with his own, more abstract war.