Teenage Bomber Kills 2 Israelis at Bus Station

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JERUSALEM – A Palestinian Arab teenager blew herself up at a busy Jerusalem bus station yesterday, killing two Israeli policemen who stopped her for a security check and wounding 16 bystanders in an attack that evaded Israel’s clampdown on the West Bank for the Jewish holidays.


Prime Minister Sharon, meanwhile, dropped a plan to evacuate 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip simultaneously at the beginning of next year, reverting to an earlier formula – a staged pullout in the summer of 2005.


That prompted Secretary of State Powell to say the Palestinian Arab prime minister, Ahmed Qurei – and not Palestinian Arab leader Yasser Arafat – should be empowered to take control of Gaza. Mr. Arafat “is not able to act in this manner,” Mr. Powell said yesterday. Israel and America are boycotting Mr. Arafat.


Mr. Sharon also hinted that Israel might one day assassinate Mr. Arafat, as it did with two leaders of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas responsible for scores of suicide bombings.


The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a violent group with ties to Mr. Arafat’s Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for yesterday’s bombing, but it was unclear what would trigger an Israeli move to assassinate Mr. Arafat. Israel has not carried out earlier threats despite attacks with dozens of casualties.


The blast at a busy intersection in the French Hill neighborhood of northern Jerusalem destroyed a nearby police post, leaving shards of glass in the road as the smell of burning rubber wafted in the air. Al Aqsa identified the bomber as Zainab Abu Salem, 19, from the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus.


A group member in Nablus said on condition of anonymity that Zainab volunteered for a suicide attack, saying she wanted to avenge Palestinian Arab terrorists killed recently by Israeli troops in Nablus.


“She said that if we refused, she would attack an army post with a knife,” the Al Aqsa member said. “So we organized quickly. We set up the attack within 17 hours and we chose this site in Jerusalem because we know it.”


Police said two border guards at the bus stop spotted the young woman carrying a bag and asked her to open it. She refused, then detonated as much as 11 pounds of explosives inside.


“I just heard this loud explosion and people started yelling, ‘Terrorist! Terrorist!,’ “said Freda Amsalem, 40, from the nearby West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim. “Why do they do this to us? Why do they do this to innocent people? They’re destroying families. Enough!”


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