JERUSALEM — As Israel’s government considered its response to a deadly terror attack this week in Tel Aviv, a possible U.S. strike against Iraq weighed heavily in the equation.
Twenty-two people were killed and more than 100 wounded Sunday when two suicide bombers launched an attack near Tel Aviv’s old Central Bus Station.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to convey the condolences of President Bush, who described the bombing as a “despicable act of murder.”
But Powell also signaled that U.S. officials want Israel to take no action that could threaten Arab support for possible U.S. military action against Iraq, according to Israeli media reports.
Sharon appeared likely to agree with the U.S. concerns because he believes a successful strike against Iraq is in Israel’s interest, according to Israel’s Channel One Television, which quoted sources close to Sharon.
The sources also accused the Palestinians of trying to drag Israel into a “hysterical” reaction that might inflame the region.
A terrorist cell from Nablus was behind Sunday’s double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, according to an Israeli military intelligence official.
Briefing a Knesset committee on Monday, the official said that cell members — who belonged to the al-Aksa Brigade, the military wing of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement — also were responsible for a recent series of deadly terror attacks.
By Monday, Israeli officials had identified 18 of the 22 victims of Sunday’s bombing. The officials released the names of 15 victims, including 11 Israelis and four foreign workers.
The bombing was the deadliest attack on Israel since a Palestinian terrorist bombed a Passover seder in Netanya last March, killing 29 people. That attack prompted Israel to launch Operation Protective Wall, a large-scale anti-terror operation in the West Bank.
By comparison, the response to Sunday’s attack was muted.
On Monday, as part of its response, Israel barred Palestinian delegates from attending a conference in London to discuss reforms in the Palestinian Authority, a step the United States had demanded toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel also will increase its targeted assassinations of suspected terrorists, according to government spokesman Ra’anan Gissin.
In a meeting late Sunday night, Israel’s Security Cabinet also decided to block a PLO meeting scheduled for Thursday in Ramallah to approve the first draft of a Palestinian constitution.
And Israel is shutting down three Palestinian colleges and universities that incite terrorism, Gissin said Monday.
But the response wasn’t only diplomatic. On Sunday night, Israeli military helicopters struck metal workshops in the Gaza Strip that the army said were being used to produce weapons.
Palestinian sources said five people were injured in the strike.
Commentators in Israel and abroad noted that the relatively mild response to the bombing was an attempt to avoid a further escalation of violence before a possible U.S. strike on Iraq.
Reacting to the attack on Sunday, Sharon told a group of young people visiting as part of the Birthright Israel program that there could be no peace talks with the Palestinians as long as terrorist attacks continue.
“We see again today the severe nature of the things that the state of Israel is facing. Our goal is to stop the brutal terror and to achieve calm and quiet. Only when the brutal terror is stopped, only then we will be able to talk peace,” he said Sunday.
“All attempts to reach a cease-fire even today are failing, due to the Palestinian leadership that continues to support, fund and initiate terror.
“The answer to what we see here in Tel Aviv” is aliyah, he added.
Sunday’s bombings took place in an area frequented by foreign workers. Last July, two suicide bombers killed five people and wounded more than 40 in the same area. Restaurants, shops and sidewalks were packed when the bombers blew themselves up on parallel streets at around 6:30 p.m. Witnesses said the blasts were heard for miles.