Israeli Hurt in Suicide Bombing

A Palestinian suicide bomber struck an Israeli army checkpoint Wednesday, killing himself and injuring a soldier, and Israeli helicopters twice hit Palestinian police posts in the West Bank in retaliatory strikes for other incidents.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on a one-day visit to Turkey, said there would be no negotiations with the Palestinians until all violence stops, adding that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat would have to play a major role in restoring calm.

“It’s important for him to decide if he wants to stand at the head of an independent state and act accordingly or if he wants to stand at the head of a gang of murderers,” Sharon said. “The way to peace goes through ending the violence.”

In the first of two raids, after an Israeli settler was killed late Tuesday in the West Bank, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at two Palestinian security buildings, causing damage but no casualties.

The second attack followed detonation of a bomb along the road to an Israeli army post on a hilltop overlooking the West Bank city of Nablus. Two soldiers were wounded. Israeli helicopters struck a checkpoint run by Force 17, part of Arafat’s security services.

The suicide bomber aimed his attack at a remote Israeli army checkpoint in the sparsely populated Jordan Valley. A soldier approached a truck, and the driver set off explosives, killing himself and wounding the soldier.

The bomber was identified as Ashraf Said, 23, a supporter of the militant Islamic group Hamas, according to his family.

“I am sad for my son’s death,” the bomber’s father, Mohammed Said, told reporters at the family home in Nablus. “But this was his choice, and I wish God will accept him as a martyr.”

After the two Israeli retaliatory strikes, the military said in a statement that Israel would respond to each Palestinian attack when and where it chooses.

Meanwhile, a poll by Tel Aviv University showed that most Israelis favor more force against the Palestinians.

The poll, released Wednesday, said 64% of respondents felt that insufficient force was being used, 20% endorsed the present level, while 9% felt that the military was using too much force. The poll queried 574 Israelis and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.