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Islamic Jihad Denies Responsibility For Tel Aviv Blast
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Israeli paramedics and police search through the rubble
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Additional
Reporting by Mustafa al Sawwaf, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, July 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Pledging its
commitment to a three-month ceasefire with Israel, Islamic Jihad group
Tuesday, July 8, denied its reported responsibility for a powerful
explosion that hit northeast of Tel Aviv a day earlier.
The
group’s press spokesman Abdullah Al-Shami dismissed a press report
claiming a group branch said it was behind the blast, which left two
people dead and deemed by Israeli police as terrorist.
“We
have no information over the report,” Shami told IslamOnline.net, in
response to the report claiming a branch of Islamic Jihad said it was
behind the explosion.
Islamic
Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that
"until now we are still investigating the announcement but we can
confirm our commitment to the suspension of attacks in Israel."
If
it is confirmed to be carried out by the group, the blast would have
been the first Palestinian violation for a temporary
ceasefire with Israel it declared last week along with Islamic
resistance movement Hamas.
The
explosion destroyed a house in the village of Kfar Yabetz, few meters
away form the West Bank.
"It
is possible that it was a terrorist attack, but it could also be an
accident, and we will have to wait for police lab results," Israeli
police spokesman Gil Kleiman told the Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
But
local fire chief Eli Barza told Israel Radio that a gas leak was to
blame for the blast.
"No-one
here knows who he is. It sounds very strange and very unreasonable, but
we are not ruling out (a suicide bombing)," Barza said.
The
body the 65-year-old woman who owned the house was pulled from beneath
the debris, along with that of a young man, who is as yet unidentified.
The
mangled body of a man was also found at the scene, and three children
next door were also slightly injured in the incident according to local
media reports.
‘Postponed’
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"Until now we are still investigating the announcement," Hindi
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In
the meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday scrapped
a planned meeting with his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon in protest
at Israel's handling of the Palestinian detainees issue, sources said.
The
cancellation of Wednesday's talks came after Abbas' approach to the
ongoing peace process was criticized at a gathering of senior
Palestinian officials held in Ramallah late Monday, chaired by
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
It
would have been the second meeting of the two prime ministers in eight
days, which have seen hopes rise of progress for the U.S.-backed
"roadmap" for peace which aims to bring an end to the
decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The
leadership rejects Israel's approach to the prisoners issue and all
attempts to categorizes them according to political affiliation or to
control the destiny of each one of them according to the law of
occupation and aggression against our people," it said.
Palestinian
officials were quoted as saying there was deep disappointment on the
Palestinian side that the Israeli cabinet approved
the release of only a few hundred of the estimated
8,000
Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Palestinian
factions, who announced last week’s ceasefire conditional
on the release of all prisoners, criticized the Israeli move as
inadequate.
Hamas
issued a statement late Monday saying that the decision not to rule out
the release of any of its members was "negative and
unacceptable". A statement obtained here Tuesday said that the
meeting on Monday had agreed that all Palestinian detainees must be
released unconditionally.
In
their first joint
meeting last week, Abbas made the release of all Palestinian
detainees a key demand. But Sharon said the move will be limited and
will only proceed in tandem with a crackdown on resistance groups by the
Palestinian authorities, and activists will not be eligible.
In
February, more than 70 Palestinian detainees in the Ketziot military
detention camp in Israel's southern Negev desert were injured while
protesting rough treatment and squalid cells. The Israeli authorities
responded with tear gas and stun grenades.
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