Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appealed for a complete halt to suicide bombing attacks following Wednesday's explosion in Jerusalem, which left seven people dead and more than 30 others wounded.
In a personal statement, Arafat called on all Palestinians to immediately stop the Kamikaze attack even in the face of Israel's move to recapture parts of the West Bank.
"I must insist on the need to completely halt these operations,"Arafat said, renewing his condemnation against the attacks on civilians.
He pledged that his Palestinian National Authority is taking decisive measures "in order to preserve the national interest."
Arafat expressed deep concern over the future of the Palestinians, declaring that those attacks on Israeli civilians "have nothing to do with our legitimate right to resist occupation."
Wednesday's bombing closely followed the deadliest explosion in six years in the same city Tuesday morning. Up to 19 people on a bus was killed Tuesday in the suicide bombing, which also left 50 others wounded.
Israel decided to take parts of the West Bank under its control until the end of the suicide bombing attacks.
Israeli warplanes also bombed targets in the Gaza Strip Wednesday, hitting the head office of the radical Islamic resistance movement Hamas, a local metal processing plant and a police station. The air raids injured six Palestinians.
(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2002)
