Israel Blames Hamas For Attack

Israel's leaders on Tuesday held the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority responsible for the deadliest suicide bombing in 20 months, but stopped short of branding it an "enemy entity" or ordering a large-scale military operation.

Israel fears that military action could erode an international consensus to isolate Hamas, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger (audio). And, since Hamas is already broke from U.S. and European sanctions, Israel believes diplomacy is more effective.

Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and key Cabinet ministers decided instead to revoke the Israeli residency rights of three Hamas lawmakers who live in Jerusalem, participants in the meeting said.

Monday's blast, which killed nine civilians and wounded dozens outside a packed Tel Aviv fast food restaurant, was carried out by a bomber from the Islamic Jihad group. However, Hamas leaders defended the attack as a justified response to Israeli military strikes against the Palestinians.

And a senior Hamas official on Tuesday held Israel responsible for the latest suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and was sharply critical of the Palestinian president for issuing a condemnation of the attack that killed nine people and wounded dozens.

Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing and said it harmed the Palestinians' national interest. However, the Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, who is close to Abbas, noted that Israeli military strikes in Gaza earlier this month also killed 19 Palestinians, including two children.

In a telephone interview, Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, said Abbas' condemnation was "hasty" and the Palestinian leader should have called instead for Israel to halt its "aggression, assassinations, arrests and policy of starving the Palestinian people."

The attack was touted as retaliation for Israeli shelling of areas in the Gaza strip used to fire rockets into Israel, a tactic Olmert says will continue as long as rockets keep being fired at his citizens, reports

The bombing represents a challenge to both the new Israeli government and to Hamas, says Pizzey: It's the militants' way of saying they won't be controlled by either Israeli force or their own politicians.

Olmert and senior advisers and security chiefs met for two hours Tuesday to weigh a response. The group decided to hold Hamas responsible because it didn't denounce the bombing.

"Israel sees the Palestinian Authority as responsible for what happened yesterday," said Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official.

Participants said Olmert decided against launching a large-scale military operation and blocked a proposal to declare the Palestinian Authority an "enemy entity." Such a declaration would have paved the way for direct strikes against the Palestinian Authority. Until now, economic and political boycotts have been Israel's main tools against the Hamas government.

Earlier, Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, told the U.N. Security Council that the Hamas government's verbal support for the bombing, as well as recent statements by Iran and Syria, "are clear declarations of war, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully and take them at face value." Gillerman said a new "axis of terror" — Iran, Syria and the Hamas government — was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century.

"Over two dozen representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and other diplomats representing the Middle East were involved in the Security Council meeting, testifying to the root causes of the violence but no resolution came out of the session," says CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk. "The next step is a meeting of the Middle East diplomatic quartet — the U.N., the European Union, the U.S. and Russia — on May 9 in New York to review the Israeli-Palestinian settlement blueprint and where it stands."

Israeli security chiefs have also proposed tightening travel restrictions, including making it harder for Palestinians to move between different parts of the West Bank and extending a blanket closure of the West Bank and Gaza. The bomber came from the northern West Bank, and the military planned to step up raids in that area. The army also proposed intensifying targeted killings of Islamic Jihad activists.

Monday's bombing was the first inside Israel since Hamas came to power at the end of March. Islamic Jihad threatened more attacks, saying it had trained 70 more would-be suicide bombers — both men and women — who were prepared to carry out new bombings.

Hamas officials defended the blast as a justified response to Israeli military strikes against the Palestinians. Hamas, which has carried out scores of suicide bombings since the early 1990s, has largely observed a truce since last year, but refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Hamas officials have said they would not try to stop or arrest members of other militant groups trying to carry out attacks.

Israel says that makes Hamas an accomplice, reports Berger.

"We will not exonerate any terrorist group or any person who is involved in terrorism. And there will be no sanctuary, and there'll be no immunity," said government spokesman Raanan Gissin.

Atef Adwan, a Hamas Cabinet minister, on Tuesday dismissed Israel's claim that the Palestinian Authority is ultimately responsible for the attack.

"Israel is trying to find a pretext to act against the Palestinian institutions and act against the Palestinian people," he said.

A confrontation between Israel and Hamas could endanger Hamas' efforts to secure desperately needed international aid and acceptance. The government is broke and has been unable to cover the large public payroll, despite aid pledges of $50 million (euro41 million) each by Iran and Qatar in recent days.

"Defense or sponsorship of terrorist acts by officials of the Palestinian Cabinet will have the gravest effects on relations between the Palestinian Authority and all states seeking peace in the Middle East," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

The bomber struck during Monday's lunch hour at The Mayor's Felafel in a busy neighborhood near Tel Aviv's central bus station. The restaurant, which had been the target of a January bombing, was packed with Israelis on vacation during the weeklong Passover holiday.

A guard outside was checking the bomber's bag when the bomb exploded, police and witnesses said.

"Suddenly there was a boom. The whole restaurant flew in the air," said Azi Otmazgo, 35, who was inside and was wounded on his hands, foot and head.

The bomb, laced with nails and other projectiles, shattered car windshields, smashed windows of nearby buildings and blew away the restaurant's sign. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground. Police said the guard was torn in half by the blast.

Six Israelis, two Romanian workers and a French tourist were among those killed. One woman was killed while standing near her husband and children who were lightly wounded, witnesses said.

In Gaza, Islamic Jihad militants handed out pastries on the streets in celebration.