Jerusalem, Sunday
ISRAEL has arrested dozens of Hamas activists since a suicide bomber
from the militant Islamic group killed himself and 22 people on a bus in
Tel Aviv.
A government source said dozens of Hamas activists had been taken into
custody since the bus blew up on Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Street on
Wednesday.
Hamas today claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had
issued orders to assassinate its leaders in retaliation for the bombing,
which was the bloodiest attack against Israelis in 16 years.
Fearing just such a backlash from the bus bombing, some 30 Hamas
activists in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied
West Bank had gone into in hiding, said a Palestinian source.
Ministers speaking after today's Israeli Cabinet meeting did not
confirm or deny the decision to mount a crackdown, but a government
official said: ''Anyone who messes with Israel should not be surprised
if Israel finds more than one way to defend itself.''
Housing Minister Benyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel was in ''a long
war'' and had decided on ''special treatment in dealing with the Hamas
that in the end will stop them''.
Hamas vowed to hit back if any of its officials was attacked inside
the Israeli-occupied territories or abroad.
The fundamentalist group repeated its demand that Israel free Arab
prisoners, including its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Rabin, under public pressure to improve security in the face of the
Hamas challenge to his peace efforts, has pledged to crack down on the
group.
Hamas carried out the bombing only five days after it killed a
kidnapped Israeli soldier during a rescue mission by Israeli commandos
in the West Bank.
On Friday Israeli troops mounted a fruitless six-hour search operation
in a West Bank village near Bethlehem for the suspected mastermind of
the Tel Aviv bombing.
''We are going to hit Hamas, but not when they are expecting it,''
said a security source.
However deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin, an outspoken Israeli
dove, said today that talks with Hamas were possible.
He told Israeli army radio: ''If the intention of the leadership of
Hamas is to speak about the terms for destroying Israel, it is truly no
partner.
''If, however, they are interested in calming the storm, I believe we
have passed the age when we say we won't speak with an organisation
because it has a certain name.''
Hamas leader Sheikh Jamas Salim said yesterday that the group was
prepared to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel guaranteed by a
third party, such as the United States.
Israel confirmed today that a self-avowed ''living martyr'' from Hamas
carried out the bus bombing, bringing the final death toll to 23.
Saleh Abdel Rahim al-Souwi, 27, was filmed by Hamas saying farewell to
his family and friends.
A police spokesman said Souwi killed himself, 20 Israelis, a Dutch
national, and one person from Sierra Leone in the bombing.
In another development, Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, who is on a
visit to Israel, said that the lifting of an Arab boycott on trade with
Jerusalem this month and recent progress in the Middle East peace
process ended constraints on buying Israeli military equipment.
Israel has made a bid to sell Popeye air-to-surface guided missiles to
the British Army.--Reuter/AP.
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