Israel Blames Syria for Attacks

Saying that Syria was responsible for the attacks, Israeli Defense Minister Saul Mofaz explained they would start a diplomatic attack on the Damascus administration. Indicating that Syria was helping the organizations, Mofaz emphasized that these organizations were threatening the peace. Syria refuted the claims saying that the Damascus Bureau of the organization was closed. Meanwhile, an official from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks. According to a video obtained by Agence France Presse (AFP), a member of Islamic Jihad named Abdullah Sibaya says they organized the attacks as retaliation for the people killed by Israel and for the houses destroyed by them. In its former statement, the organization said it had nothing to do with the attacks and had kept their promise for the ceasefire that they had given to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas. Explaining that the ceasefire would not apply to Islamic Jihad members, Israel announced that they had suspended their decision to withdraw from five settlement units in the West Bank. On the other side, Abbas promised that he would make the parties responsible answer to the courts and added that ‘a third party’ was trying to sabotage the peace.