Suicide Bomber Kills 5 in Israel

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a shopping mall here Monday, killing at least five other people and wounding more than 40.

The bombing, which occurred shortly before noon as shoppers lined up at the entrance for security checks, was the second such attack since Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip over the summer raised hopes for diplomatic progress. It added a fresh element of uncertainty as the Palestinians and Israelis each head into election seasons.

Officials said the bomber detonated the explosives after a security guard and police officers became suspicious and pulled him aside for questioning. The force of the blast tore loose chunks of concrete, blew out windows three floors above the sidewalk and sprayed blood 15 feet up the outside wall.

“I heard the blast, and saw a large black cloud of smoke, and heard loud shouts,” said Shahar Yaakovi, a 51-year-old apartment renovator who was across the street in his parents’ home. “I felt the glass windows of my parents’ apartment shaking.”

It was the second time in five months that a suicide bomber has struck the multistory mall in coastal Netanya, 15 miles north of Tel Aviv. In July, a suicide attack outside the shopping center killed five Israelis.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack, which it said was carried out by a 21-year-old man from a West Bank village north of Tulkarm, the origin of several recent bombers.

Israeli leaders promised a harsh response, including a renewal of so-called targeted killings of militant leaders. Israeli media reports late Monday said the military was preparing for a possible broad-scale incursion into Palestinian-held areas of the West Bank.

Monday’s bombing followed a rise in violence over the weekend. On Sunday, Israeli forces fired artillery over the border into open fields in Gaza that military officials said served as launch pads for Kassam rockets fired into southern Israel, and an Israeli airstrike targeted a building allegedly used to manufacture the crude projectiles.

Islamic Jihad had promised reprisals for various Israeli actions, including raids in the West Bank and the killings of some of its leaders.

Israel said the Netanya bombing was a sign of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to act against militias, despite its success last winter in getting most militant groups to agree to cease attacks against Israelis, at least until the end of the year.

Islamic Jihad, which agreed to an open-ended period of calm along with Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, has taken responsibility for all five suicide bombings in Israel this year.

“The Palestinian Authority refuses to take the steps necessary to prevent terror against Israel, including the rounding up and incarcerating of known terrorists, collection of illegal weapons and dismantling and putting out of business terror organizations,” said David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office. “We saw the results today in Netanya. They should have no illusion; there can be no substitute for these measures.”

It remained unclear what effect the attack, or any Israeli reprisals, would have on political campaigns underway on both sides. A Palestinian parliamentary vote is scheduled Jan. 25, and Israeli national elections will take place in late March.

Palestinian officials roundly condemned the bombing, saying it could jeopardize the fragile, 10-month informal truce and undermine the parliamentary election. In a statement, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called it a “terrorist operation” and promised to bring to justice any others found to have been involved.

“It harms Palestinian interests. It’s an attempt to sabotage the efforts to revive the peace process and undermines attempts to have free and fair elections,” said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. “Maintaining the cessation of violence between the two sides serves both interests.”

For the first time, Hamas has candidates running for seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council. Many Palestinian moderates see the election as a watershed and, perhaps, the best chance to persuade the hard-line Islamic group to disarm on its own. Meanwhile, the dominant Fatah movement, led by Abbas, has been beset by occasionally violent infighting over voter lists and which candidates to run.

Mohammed Hourani, a Fatah lawmaker running in the West Bank town of Hebron, expressed concern that the attack would prompt Israel to step up arrest operations and tighten travel restrictions in the West Bank.

“We have given Israel a pretext to undermine our elections,” Hourani said.

In Israel, right-wing critics of Sharon used the incident to take aim at the prime minister’s policies, including Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip and a small portion of the West Bank.

Uzi Landau, a parliament member who quit the race for leadership of the conservative Likud Party on Monday, said any move by Sharon to press for further withdrawals would provide “a tailwind for terror.”

Sharon bolted from Likud two weeks ago to lead a new centrist movement: Kadima, or Forward.

Times staff writer Ellingwood reported from Jerusalem and special correspondent Bekker from Netanya.