A Palestinian resistance bomber killed four people and wounded dozens more in an attack on a crowded cafe near the US embassy in Tel Aviv, just hours after Mahmud Abbas was endorsed as the first-ever Palestinian prime minister. "The attack killed three people, not including the attacker," Israeli police chief Shlomo Aharonochki told journalists, adding that 55 people had been wounded in the blast. Most of the wounded were said to be young people.

A caller told AFP that the attack had been jointly planned by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and the Al Qassam Brigades.
The man calling himself Abu Barek said: "This attack was carried out by a martyr from Tulkarem (in the north of the West Bank) to avenge Mazen Erapeh, an Al Aqsa member recently killed in Nablus (by the Israeli occupation army), and was jointly planned by the Al Aqsa and Al Qassam Brigades."

The seafront cafe was packed with customers at the time of the attack, witnesses said. The blast started a fire in the building.
Police cordoned off the whole district around the US embassy and carried out searches for explosives.

"The absolute priority of the Palestinian cabinet must be to stop terrorism and put an end to this kind of attack," an Israeli official who requested anonymity told AFP.

Attack Came Hours After Palestinian Parliament Endorsed Abbas as Premier

The bombing came just hours after the investiture by the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank town of Ramallah of moderate Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen), 68, as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.

Abbas, in a powerful and ambitious speech as the session opened, promised to tackle rampant Palestinian violence.

Abbas's call for a collection of unauthorized weapons met with flat rejection from resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad and skepticism from some of his own supporters.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the Tel Aviv bombing, but urged Israelis and Palestinians to stick to the peace process, his spokesman said.

The United States also condemned the bombing, and vowed to continue its quest for Middle East peace.

State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said the administration of President George W. Bush wanted to express its deepest condolences to the victims of the bombing and their families.

'Road Map' to Be Unveiled Within Coming Two Days

The blast in Tel Aviv came as a quartet of international mediators -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- prepared to unveil a so-called "roadmap" outlining a series of steps to be taken by Israel and the Palestinians to end their conflict within three years.

The roadmap was likely to be presented to Israel and the Palestinians on Wednesday or Thursday, according to US officials.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell is set to travel to Europe, Syria and Lebanon this week as part of his search for ways to end Middle East violence.

PHOTO CAPTION

A wounded man is treated at the scene of a resistance bombing in a restaurant in Tel Aviv early Wednesday April 30, 2003. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)