JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - A car bomb packed with bullets and nails exploded in a car park near a Jerusalem shopping district on Monday, hurting no one but wounding hopes that an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire would take hold.Al-Jazeera television in (Read photo caption below) Qatar said the militant Islamic Jihad movement had claimed responsibility.
It was the first car bomb in Israel since the sides vowed on Wednesday to implement a truce that could make it easier for Washington to forge an anti-terror alliance. But Israeli occupation troops have shot dead 17 Palestinians in renewed violence since then.
The explosion shattered windows, sent a cloud of black smoke into the air and lifted at least one car off the ground beside the busy Hebron Road while Israelis were shopping on the eve of the Jewish Succot holiday.
Marwan al-Barghouthi, a West Bank leader of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, said the Israelis were the ones failing to comply with cease-fire pledges.
He told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah that Palestinian forces had shown restraint ``but the Israelis have continued killing Palestinians.''
No Israelis have been killed since Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres reaffirmed an agreement last week intended to pave the way to resuming peace talks after a bloody, yearlong uprising against Israeli occupation.
The United States condemned the bombing and called on both sides to ``avoid actions that jeopardize the re-establishment of direct discussions, and do everything possible to restore an atmosphere of calm.''
Meanwhile, Israeli commanders and Palestinian security chiefs met at the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip for U.S.-sponsored talks to discuss security cooperation.
But sporadic violence continued.
The occupation army said grenades were thrown at an Israeli post near the Egyptian border and an explosive device was detonated near a military vehicle. Israeli occupation soldiers and Palestinian Resistance men later engaged in a fierce gunbattle in the area.
PHOTO CAPTION:
An Israeli occupation police officer walks a bomb-sniffing dog past the wreckage of a car bomb which exploded in Jerusalem Monday, Oct. 1 2001. A car bomb exploded Monday in a residential area of Jerusalem, causing no serious injury, but hurting Israeli-Palestinian truce efforts. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)