Tel Aviv Bomber Kills Only Himself

Detonates At Food Stand In Pedestrian Mall, Wounding 15 Israelis

(CBS/AP) 
Israeli police raided the militant Hamas group's campaign offices in east Jerusalem on Thursday, less than a week before the Jan. 25 Palestinian parliamentary elections. They confiscated material and shut down the office for 15 days. Police said the office was closed because it was being used by a "terrorist group."

Israel's 243,000 settlers have traditionally wielded influence far in excess of their numbers. Settlers have set up scores of unauthorized outposts throughout the West Bank, and some extremists have attacked Palestinians without being punished.

Over the weekend, settlers angry at the government's plan to evict Jewish squatters from an empty Palestinian market in the West Bank town of Hebron, went on a rampage, burning empty Palestinian stores and homes and scuffling with police.

The violence — also aimed at the government's plan to dismantle another outpost, Amona, in the central West Bank — sparked a rare bout of soul searching by Israeli officials who rued being too lenient with extremist settlers in the past. They warned that hard-line settlers were trying to set up a breakaway state in the West Bank.

"There is a large group, partly young people, who don't recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel, not the government, not the law-enforcing institutions, not the police, not the army," Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told Israel Radio. "We have to deal with this."

Olmert, who took over after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke two weeks ago, responded angrily to the Hebron violence and said he would deal firmly with settlers who break the law. Government officials said he was considering holding settler lawbreakers without trial or charge, a measure Israel usually only uses against Palestinians.

Although the Hebron eviction notices were sent out before Sharon's stroke, Olmert's tough talk on the outposts could be part of an effort to cast himself as a moderate ahead of Israel's March 28 elections. Olmert is expected to lead Sharon's centrist Kadima Party — which has a huge lead in the polls.

"We think there is a malicious trend and cynical political use of the police and the army so Olmert can curry favor with the left," said Hebron settler leader Orit Struck.

She said the settlers' conduct in Hebron was due in part to the "bleeding wounds" left from Israel's uprooting of 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip last summer. "We see a great deal of anger and pain that bursts forth when again we are confronted with another expulsion. I propose we don't reach that point again," she said.

In east Jerusalem, Israeli police posted a sign on the door of the closed Hamas elections office that said it was being used as "a place for the activities of a terrorist group." The order was signed by Israel's police chief.

Hamas is responsible for scores of deadly attacks on Israelis and Israel has barred election activities of all militant groups in east Jerusalem. Polls show Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party steadily losing ground to Hamas before the elections.

Hamas and Fatah have pledged to avoid violence on election day, reports Berger. In the run up to the vote, Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly taken over government buildings. The non-violence agreement is a tacit admission by Fatah that Hamas will be a significant factor in the new parliament. Israel says that will doom the peace process because Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks the destruction of the Jewish state.