Israeli Troops Pull Back From Gaza Town

Abbas is seen as instrumental in implementing the "road map" to peace plan, a three-stage prescription for ending violence and setting up a Palestinian state by 2005. However, Abbas has said he will not launch a crackdown on intifada – a crucial step in the first phase – until Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has accepted the plan.

Sharon has refused to do so, saying he wants to discuss his objections with President Bush. A Bush-Sharon meeting had been scheduled for Tuesday, but Sharon postponed his Washington trip indefinitely because of the bombings.

Bush remained confident the peace plan can be implemented. "But it is clear that the process is not going to be smooth so long as terrorists kill," he said Monday.

The Israeli-Palestinian deadlock has left the field to the militants who are trying to torpedo the peace efforts and weaken Abbas. In the past, the Islamic militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have stepped up attacks whenever there was increased hope of progress toward peace.

In the latest bombing, a Palestinian woman, 19-year-old Hiba Daraghmeh, blew herself up at a back entrance of a shopping mall in the northern Israeli town of Afula on Monday. Daraghmeh detonated the explosives as she approached security guards checking shoppers.

The blast killed three Israelis, including a guard, and wounded 47.

Daraghmeh was a 19-year-old English literature student from the West Bank village of Tubas and was a devout Muslim, covering her face with a veil in addition to the headscarf customary among observant Palestinian women.

Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militia linked to the ruling Fatah party, claimed joint responsibility. Daraghmeh apparently was recruited by Al Aqsa, while Islamic Jihad, which gets money from Iran, provided the funding, militia members said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israeli troops detained Daraghmeh’s parents, relatives said, and Israel Radio said the two were taken to Israel’s forensics institute to identify their daughter’s body. The family emptied its home of belongings, expecting that it would be demolished – in line with the military’s practice for the past year.

Al Aqsa’s involvement proved particularly embarrassing for Abbas, who is a senior Fatah official. The militia, founded by Fatah supporters at the outbreak of fighting, consists of bands of gunmen operating without central directive. Some militiamen have said they would resist Abbas’ call to lay down arms.

Abbas has said he wants to disarm Palestinian fighters through dialogue, not force – an approach Sharon has brushed aside, saying he wants to see arrests and weapons sweeps.

Abbas, who took office April 30, issued a strong condemnation of the Afula bombing, saying it "contradicts our moral values and tradition and only feeds into the hatred of the two peoples." However, Israeli’s military operations "contribute to the surge of violence," Abbas added.

The latest string of attacks began Saturday evening, just before a Sharon-Abbas meeting, the first Israeli-Palestinian summit since the outbreak of fighting.