Mona Ziade
Daily Star staff

A Palestinian suicide bomber signaled a shift to more sophisticated and deadlier techniques on Wednesday when he detonated a car packed with explosives near Tel Aviv, igniting a moving bus and killing 16 passengers on the anniversary of the beginning of the 1967 war.
The bomber also perished and at least 38 people were wounded in the morning rush-hour inferno near the town of Megiddo ­ the Hebrew word for Armageddon, scene of the final battle between good and evil in the end of days, according to the New Testament’s Book of Revelation.
Passengers were hurled onto the pavement as the bus tumbled and ignited in a fireball.
Thirteen of the 16 dead were soldiers in their late teens and early 20s. Thirty-eight others were hurt, 10 seriously, according to the Israeli police.
Israel retaliated swiftly, sending more than two dozen tanks and armored vehicles, backed by attack helicopters, into the West Bank town of Jenin, allegedly the bomber’s hometown.
The tanks advanced into Jenin firing their machine guns. They rumbled in from the north, west and east after encircling Jenin as Apache attack helicopters strafed targets with heavy machine-gun fire within hours of the bombing.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the Megiddo blast, the deadliest since Israel announced on May 10 an end to its reoccupation of the West Bank, resorting to a new strategy of daily pinpoint raids into Palestinian areas.
An Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, Abdullah Shami, called the attack “part of our resistance,” and group official Ramadan Shalah said in Damascus that it was intended to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the 1967 war.
Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and ordered the arrest of those responsible. But the measure was viewed by the Israelis as mere lip-service to dampen international outrage.
And the White House viewed the attack as further proof of Arafat’s inability or reluctance to rein in extremists.
An aide to the Palestinian president, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, blamed the attack on the “continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas.” He said Israeli incursions into Palestinian territories made it impossible for the authority to carry out its security duties.
White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer said that in George W. Bush’s eyes “Yasser Arafat has never played a role of someone who can be trusted or who was effective.” The US president  condemned the bombing “in the
strongest terms” Fleischer said.
“This attack underscores the fact that these terrorists are the worst enemies of not only the people of Israel who seek peace but also the Palestinian people,” he said, adding that the attack also highlights the importance of developing a Palestinian security force that can curb militancy.
Peppered with questions about Arafat’s role in any future peacemaking process, Fleischer seemed to look beyond the Palestinian leader. “The president is focused on actions and not individuals,” Fleischer said. “The Palestinian Authority is comprised of many people.”
The Bush administration seemed concerned that Wednesday’s bombing and claims that militants tried to use cyanide in a recent attack point to increased sophistication in techniques adopted by the Palestinians.
An Israeli Army spokesman claimed that militants had planned to release the lethal gas when a bomber struck the Park Hotel in Netanya on March 27, killing 29 Israelis.
The Israeli spokesman, Brigadier General Ron Kitrey, claimed that only a technical mishap foiled the plan.
“We think (Palestinian militias) will try very enthusiastically” to stage more dramatic and deadlier attacks, he said.
The intention to use cyanide was first mentioned by Israel’s military intelligence chief, Major General  Aharon Zeevi, when he briefed Parliament’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
The attack came a day after CIA chief George Tenet met Arafat to press him to carry out reforms that would make his security apparatus more effective in preventing terror attacks. Arafat presented a reform plan, but Israeli media reports said Tenet considered it insufficient.
A Palestinian official said Tenet warned Arafat that if the Palestinian leader did not prevent terror attacks, he would stand alone in facing Israeli reprisals ­ an apparent threat that the United States would give Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon a freer hand in retaliating.
Sharon, who is to meet Bush at the White House on Monday, convened his security Cabinet. Education Minister Limor Livnat, who participated, said no decision was made on a response, but Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said that “following this attack, there will be no sanctuary and no safe haven for any terrorist.”
Cabinet Minister Effie Eitam said Israel needed to take back all the West Bank and Gaza areas that were transferred to the Palestinian Authority in 1994 and now contain what Israel calls a “terrorist infrastructure.”
His more moderate Cabinet colleague, Matan Vilnai, argued that military moves alone will not solve the problem.
“We need diplomatic moves to move forward, and neutralize the hatred that breeds terror,” he said.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was in London en route to Washington for a meeting with Bush, said he was “very sorry for the civilians … being killed on the Israeli and on the Palestinian side,” adding that only negotiations would stop the violence.
For his part, Blair said it was time for the Israelis and Palestinians to understand that neither can eliminate the other.
The European Union said: “Violence only leads to more violence.” Its foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said in Brussels: “These acts of terror can only undermine the hopes of peace and add to more suffering.”
On other diplomatic fronts, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI concluded talks in Saudi Arabia on efforts to revive the moribund peace process, while Jordan’s King Abdullah II also flew to the Gulf kingdom for similar consultations. ­ With agencies

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