Israel Opts for Restraint in Response to Bombing

The Israeli government on Tuesday took the largely symbolic step of revoking the residency rights of three Hamas lawmakers who live in Jerusalem, holding off on harsher measures against the Palestinians after the deadliest suicide bombing in 20 months.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government had weighed but held off on declaring the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority an “enemy entity” or launching a large-scale military operation in retaliation for the attack Monday in a bustling Tel Aviv neighborhood.

The blast killed nine people besides the bomber and left scores of people wounded.

The bombing, the first suicide attack in Israel since Hamas took office, was described by the group as a legitimate response to military and diplomatic actions taken by Israel -- a marked departure from the stance of previous Palestinian governments, which had condemned attacks targeting civilians.

Although the explosion outside a Tel Aviv sandwich shop was carried out by another Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, Israeli officials reiterated Tuesday that they held Hamas ultimately responsible.

“The Palestinian Authority, and those now leading it, must bear the blame,” said Gideon Meir, a senior Foreign Ministry official.

The three Hamas members of parliament live in mainly Arab East Jerusalem. Without a residency permit, they could be forced to move to outlying areas or the West Bank, and would not be able to travel freely between there and Jerusalem.

One of the three, Ahmed Atoun, responded with defiance. “If they want to detain me, let them,” the Israeli daily Haaretz quoted him as saying.

Since Hamas’ victory in parliamentary elections Jan. 25, Israel has sought measures such as diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions against the group, which does not recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist.

But a direct strike against Palestinian Authority institutions or elected Hamas officials would have serious long-term repercussions, Israeli analysts said.

“It would set all kinds of precedents,” said Gerald Steinberg, who heads a think tank at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. “And once you embark on a course like this, it is difficult to turn back.”

Israel is also between governments at the moment, an awkward time for any dramatic measures. The Israeli army over the last several weeks has been directing intensive artillery fire at the northern Gaza Strip in an effort to halt the firing of rockets at Israel. But at least two Palestinian civilians have been killed and more than a dozen injured in the offensive.

Olmert, 60, who assumed the national leadership as well as the stewardship of the centrist Kadima party when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was incapacitated by a stroke in January, is forming a coalition government.

Kadima, which won the largest number of seats in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset, in elections last month, is seen as likely to strike an alliance with the left-leaning Labor Party, which took the second-largest share, as well as with some smaller factions.

In Washington, President Bush repeated his counsel of restraint, even while deploring the Tel Aviv attack.

“I have consistently reminded all parties that they must be mindful of whatever actions they take, and mindful of the consequences,” he said.

Though refraining from any direct strike at Hamas, senior Israeli military officials have urged that travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank be tightened and that officials of Islamic Jihad be targeted for arrest or assassination, military sources said.

At the height of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, Hamas carried out dozens of suicide bombings. But for more than a year, the group has observed an informal cease-fire that has coincided with its entry into local and national politics.

Nonetheless, Hamas is still regarded as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union because it refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel’s right to exist.

In a national ritual that fell on the last day of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Passover, Israel held a round of funerals for victims of the Tel Aviv attack. A makeshift shrine sprang up at the site of the attack, a popular falafel restaurant in a working-class district near Tel Aviv’s bus station.

Israeli security officials were also investigating how the young bomber had managed to evade roadblocks and closures and make his way to Tel Aviv.

While Israeli officials held consultations, the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, told reporters before a Cabinet meeting that “continued Israeli assaults against the Palestinian people” had contributed to the attack.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, considered a pragmatist, condemned the bombing.