Last update - 22:48 21/11/2002

By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondent, Ha'aretz Service and Agencies IDF soldiers arresting a Palestinian in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters)

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to carry out a "wide and extensive operation" in response to Thursday morning's suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem in which 11 people were killed.

The directive to the army came after the prime minister held consultations with senior IDF officials, which were also attended by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

The operation will not call for an emergency call-up of IDF reservists, Channel One reported.

During the discussion it was decided that Israel will no longer recognize the "Bethlehem first" understandings reached with the PA, which led to the IDF's withdrawal from the West Bank city in August.

The bomber who carried out the attack apparently came from the Bethlehem area, raising the possibility that IDF troops might return to the West Bank city.

A senior security official told Army Radio on Thursday that if reports that the suicide bomber came from Bethlehem were correct, the IDF would operate in the city.

The bomber was named as Na'al Azmi Abu Hilayal, from the village of al-Khader, just south of Bethlehem. Thursday afternoon, IDF troops arrested Hilayal's father and brother.

IDF troops withdrew from Bethlehem on August 19, as part of an attempt by former Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer to put in place a gradual truce in exchange for a PA commitment to track down militants.

A similar plan was implemented in Hebron, but the IDF retook the West Bank city earlier this week after 12 Israelis were killed in a shooting attack over the weekend.

"All our efforts to hand over areas... and all the talk about a possible cease-fire, that was all window dressing because on the ground there was a continuous effort to carry out as many terrorist activities (as possible)," advisor to Sharon Ra'anan Gissin said Thursday.

Gissin also accused the Palestinian Authority of assisting the attackers.

PA condemns attack, but blames PM for violence Senior Palestinian negotiator and cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told CNN Thursday, "We condemn this attack that claimed the lives of so many Israeli civilians, as we have always condemned the killings of civilians whether Palestinians or Israelis,"

But he blamed Sharon for continued violence in the two-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood, saying Sharon's right-wing government had blocked the path to peace talks since it took office 20 months ago.

"[Sharon's] government took the path of reoccupying totally the West Bank," Erekat said. "And when they blame us, blame the Palestinian Authority, this cannot be accepted, because they are the ones who are totally in charge."

David Baker, an official in Sharon's office, condemned the attack. "Palestinian terrorists continue to cling to the bloodshed agenda and they are satisfied only when innocent Israeli lives are taken," Baker told The Associated Press.

Ismail Abu Shanab, a leader of Hamas, said that "the Palestinian people are determined to continue the resistance until we liberate our land."

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, with the help of Egypt, has been trying to persuade Hamas to stop attacks, at least during Israel's election campaign. A first round of talks in Cairo ended inconclusively, but both sides had said negotiations would continue.

Bush, Blair condemn Jerusalem attack U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meeting during the NATO summit in Prague, stood together to deplore the attack in Jerusalem. Bush said he was "greatly disturbed" by the violence.

"It is clear that those who want to use terror to stop any prospect for peace are still active," Bush said. He said "all countries in the region ... must do their best to fight terror."

It remains the United States's goal to see two independent states - Israel and Palestine - living side-by-side in peace, Bush said. "We will continue to work with those who share that vision," he said.

Blair said, "Our thoughts are obviously with the victims of the latest terrorist outrage in Israel."

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2002