Fencing Off Egyptian Border May Be Israel's Next Move

WASHINGTON — A plan to build a security fence along Israel's 100-mile border with Egypt will get a new look after yesterday's suicide bomb attack in Eilat.

An Israeli diplomat here yesterday confirmed details disclosed in a Jerusalem Post story that reported a 2005 plan known as "Hour Glass" to build an electronic fence along the portion of Israel that abuts the Sinai Desert. The proposal, estimated to cost more than $1 billion, was rejected at the time because of the expense.

Three separate terrorist groups yesterday claimed credit for the bombing of an Eilat bakery, in which three people were killed in addition to the suicide bomber.

Hamas, the terrorist affiliated party that controls the Palestinian Authority legislature and government ministries, issued a statement saying the attack was the response to Israeli aggression.

Prime Minister Olmert told reporters, "We will continue with our unending struggle against terrorists and those who dispatch them." Last night, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz quoted anonymous Israeli sources as saying no counterattacks were planned for the time being. At the same time, other Israeli papers said preparations for such an attack were being made in Jerusalem.

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, issued a statement saying his Fatah Party intended to maintain the cease-fire with Israel. The most likely perpetrator of the attack is Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which yesterday claimed credit for the attack and said the bomber, Mohammed al-Siksik, had prepared for the attack for seven months in Jordan.

The most important detail on the attack came from the Israeli minister for public security, Avi Dichter. Mr. Dichter yesterday said the bomber left Gaza through the Rafah Gate and entered Egypt's Sinai dessert, which Israel ceded to Egypt in the 1978 Camp David Accords. Siksik then traveled through the Sinai's infamous smuggling routes to the border between Egypt and the resort town of Eilat. At the border he hitched a ride with an Israeli Jew, Yossi Waltinsky, to a gas station wearing the apparatus that contained the 15 kilogram explosive. "There have been 100 such attempts in the last year," an Israeli security official said yesterday with regard to efforts of terrorists to infiltrate Israel through its border with the Sinai. This official also said the Rafah Crossing has been a source of smuggling and the export of terror.

Israel relies on the Egyptians to protect the crossing between Gaza and Egypt. In the past, however, the Egyptians have failed to stop the flow of Qassam rockets that have been used by Hamas and other groups in attacks on Israel. The attack yesterday on the resort town of Eilat was unusual; suicide bombers have concentrated their attacks on places such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The White House responded to the bombing with a statement saying, "The burden of responsibility for preventing terrorist attacks rests with the Palestinian Authority government. Failure to act against terror will inevitably affect relations between that government and the international community and undermine the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state of their own."

A former senior Pentagon official in the Reagan administration and adviser to President Bush in his 2000 campaign, Richard Perle, yesterday said he was not sure if erecting another fence was the right move.

"When you look at the fence alongside the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, it makes a lot of sense," he said. "You can't wall off the whole Sinai, though."