Suicide bomber kills Israeli policeman

UMM EL-FAHM, Israel -- Palestinians ended a six-week lull in attacks on Israelis Wednesday when a policeman died after challenging a suicide bomber and Palestinian militants killed a motorist and a settler in the West Bank.

Two Palestinians also died Wednesday -- one killed by Israeli troops and the other apparently by Palestinians who suspected him of being a collaborator.

The renewed attacks on Israelis came a day after Israel rejected a Palestinian proposal for a two-stage truce.

Israel said the Palestinian offer to halt attacks in Israel proper during the first phase implied Palestinians still would feel free to strike Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Speaking at the start of a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said no progress could be made without "total cessation of violence and terror."

Just hours later, a blackened, burned-out police van bore witness to the power of the latest suicide blast, which was apparently planned for the bus station near the Israeli Arab town of Umm el-Fahm, one mile from the Israel-West Bank border.

It was the first suicide bombing since Aug. 4, one of the longest lulls in such attacks in a two-year conflict marked by more than 70 Palestinian suicide bombings that have killed more than 250 Israelis.

After back-to-back suicide attacks in Jerusalem killed 26 people in mid-June, Israeli soldiers poured into the West Bank and took control of most of the main Palestinian population centers, imposing curfews and clamping down further on travel in the West Bank.

Palestinians say the suffering of hundreds of thousands confined to their homes is breeding more hatred and a desire for revenge, making a resumption of bomb attacks inevitable. The Palestinians' own security services, they say, have been made powerless against the militants because of Israel's occupation.

Reacting to Wednesday's bombing, David Baker, an official in Sharon's office, said, "Palestinian terrorists have drawn up a road map of terror and are content only when their campaign of carnage is implemented."

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the violence Wednesday was "one step backward" after a month of calm, and President Bush hoped the two sides could resume "the path of slow, quiet progress in the Middle East."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Mahmoud Zahar, a Gaza-based spokesman for the militant group Hamas, welcomed the attack. "The Palestinians have every right to fight against the occupation," he said.

Witnesses said the bomber blew himself up as police approached in their van after receiving a report the man was behaving suspiciously. Paramedic Moshe Dahan said "the terrorist disintegrated on the spot."

In addition to the policeman who died, another officer was slightly injured and a bystander was seriously hurt.

"It was like an earthquake," said Hamad Akbariyeh, an Israeli Arab who runs a restaurant about 100 yards away. "Our place filled with dust. We went out to look and we saw the bodies of the policeman and the civilian on the ground, and the bomber himself in pieces -- in pieces."

Because of its proximity to the West Bank, the section of the main east-west road in northern Israel that runs near Umm el-Fahm has been the scene of many attacks by Palestinians. The last suicide bombing there was March 20, when a Palestinian boarded a bus and blew it up, killing himself and seven Israelis.

The area is also frequently used as an infiltration route to nearby Israeli cities, like Hadera and Netanya, which have been hit repeatedly by suicide bombers.

In recent days Israelis had begun to speculate that the relative quiet might lead to an economic recovery, but security officials warned that Palestinian militants had not given up on their efforts.

The head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Avi Dichter, told the Israeli Cabinet Wednesday the Palestinian Authority has done nothing to prevent attacks -- despite recent moderate statements and the appearance of reassessing the two years of fighting.

Earlier Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli car in the northern part of the West Bank, killing one motorist and wounding another. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility.

Though it was the first fatal attack in the West Bank since Aug. 5, almost every day the military and Jewish settlers report on Palestinians shooting at cars.

The body of a Jewish settler -- apparently the victim of Palestinian attackers -- was found in a garbage bin in the Jerusalem suburb of Azariya. The Israeli, who was 67 years old, lived in the large settlement of Maaleh Adumim, in the desert east of Jerusalem, and had given a ride home to a Palestinian worker helping to fix his house. On several occasions during the conflict, Israelis who have entered Palestinian towns and villages have been killed by militants.

Also Wednesday, Israeli troops killed an armed Palestinian and wounded a second man in the West Bank village of Tamoun. The army said the two tried to run soldiers down with a car and fire on them. The mayor said the two were ambushed. He said the dead man was wanted by Israel and was active in the Al Aqsa militia.

In the northern West Bank, the body of Palestinian man was found in an olive grove. The man was a suspected collaborator with Israel and had been shot in the chest, residents said.