Explosion Rocks Mideast

A car exploded in the center of this West Bank city, killing at least one person Wednesday night, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said.

The explosion occurred near an electronics factory. The car belonged to a Palestinian, and inside the vehicle was the burned body of what was believed to be a male teenager, the sources said.

The cause of the explosion wasn't immediately known.

The Israeli military has carried out a series of raids around Nablus in recent days, calling the city a center of militant activity.

But Palestinian militants have in the past been wounded or killed in explosions while preparing attacks on Israelis.

A military spokesman said the army was not involved in the incident, adding that Israeli forces were not operating in the area at the time of the explosion.

The potent explosion continued to hamper Egypt's efforts to broker peace in the Mideast. On Tuesday, the plan suffered two setbacks within hours of one another: A flare-up of violence and an attack on Egypt's envoy.

An Israeli raid on a Gaza refugee camp killed five Palestinians Tuesday, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher's one-day visit was marred by a confrontation with Palestinian extremists at the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site. It landed him briefly in the hospital.

The Palestinians and Israel are blaming each other for the attack on Maher, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.

Adnan Husseini, who heads the Islamic Trust, says Israeli police changed security plans to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty over the disputed site.

"They will never have any sovereignty on the place," Husseini said. "It is an Islamic place and it will continue to be an Islamic place."

Israeli police say the charges are nonsense, and the Islamic authorities should have taken the presence of militants into account.

Israel had told Maher earlier it would abide by a cease-fire with the Palestinians, though it would not sign a truce with militant groups.

Early Tuesday, about 40 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles entered the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinians said.

Five Palestinians, including at least three civilians, were killed and 41 other people were wounded by Israeli gunfire, hospital officials said. Four of the injured were in critical condition, hospital officials said.

One of those killed, Ahmed Majar, 32, was a Palestinian police officer heading to his job at the Rafah border crossing. He was shot in the head, his family said.

At their funerals, held hours later, the sounds of mourning mixed with the sounds of gunfire and tanks moving as the incursion continued.

The army said the raid was a part of its ongoing efforts to expose weapons smuggling tunnels and that troops had fired in response to attacks by Palestinian militants.

"In the past, these tunnels have been used for delivering arms to terrorists for direct use against Israeli civilians, and Israel has vowed to put an end to such tunnels," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.

Residents said families fled the area in their pajamas and Israeli snipers were firing from rooftops. Helicopters flew overhead and explosions were heard throughout the morning. At least seven houses were destroyed, residents said.

Also Tuesday, two gunmen shot an Israeli vehicle in a rare attack along the border with Egypt, the army and witnesses said. The car was hit, but no one was injured, and the army was searching for the attackers. It was not immediately clear where the gunmen came from.

In separate violence, a Palestinian threw a grenade Monday evening at Israeli soldiers in Gaza during a firefight, killing two officers, the army said. Soldiers killed the attacker and another armed Palestinian, the military said.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a group loosely linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, and the Islamic Jihad took responsibility.

After the attack, the army raided a nearby village, destroying six houses and razing several farms, witnesses said. The army had no immediate comment.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops closed off the refugee camp of Balata on Tuesday with piles of dirt and trenches. The army said it was searching for militants.

As part of Egypt's efforts to broker a cease-fire in the conflict, Maher met with Israeli officials Monday. On his return to Egypt early Tuesday, he said he was undaunted by the Al Aqsa confrontation.

"We are working so the Palestinian people can regain their rights and achieve peace and sovereignty and establish a Palestinian state," Maher said. "(The attack) is a passing matter that does not affect the essence of the Egyptian policy ... Nothing will change that."

During the confrontation, Maher appeared shaken as bodyguards and Israeli police whisked him out of the mosque compound, while protesters shouted and hurled shoes — a deep insult in Islamic culture. The guards supported Maher as he grimaced and clutched his chest.

Witnesses heard him gasping "I'm going to choke, I'm going to choke," as he exited the compound through a gate above the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site.

Israeli rescue workers treated him for a half hour before he was transferred by limousine to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital. He was released five hours after the incident and flew home.

Israeli police said they arrested seven suspects in the attack.

In Cairo, President Hosni Mubarak's office issued a statement denouncing the "irresponsible" attack, pledging that it "will not derail Egypt's efforts to achieve a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli talks, with the effective participation of other peace-loving partners."

The Palestinian Authority also denounced the attack.

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but relations have deteriorated during three years of Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In recent weeks Egypt — along with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia — has been trying in vain to coax a cease-fire declaration from Palestinian militant groups.

In a potential shift that could breathe new life into the efforts, Sharon told Maher that Israel would halt activity against the militants if there is a cease-fire, by responding "to quiet with quiet," said a senior source in the prime minister's office, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source said Maher indicated the talks could lead to a summit between Sharon and Mubarak.