JERUSALEM – Israel forces, on alert for suicide bombers, sealed off Palestinian areas last night as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told President Bush the “self-defense” killings of suspected terrorists will continue.
Officials said Israeli security completely closed the West Bank towns of Nablus and Qalqilya and the northern part of Bethlehem after receiving warnings that bombers were preparing attacks on Jerusalem or in northern Israel.
Bush called Sharon earlier in the day to express condolences over the suicide bombings in the past week that killed 15 Israelis and injured more than 100.
A top Israeli source said Sharon told the president he ordered the PLO offices in East Jerusalem and Abu Dis closed after the first bombing – at a Jerusalem pizzeria – because the Palestinian Authority was using them for “illegal activity” and that police had found weapons and homemade bombs in them.
The second bombing, near Haifa, was at a cafe.
The source said Bush promised U.S. support in opposing the Palestinian call, backed by Arab states, for a U.N. Security Council meeting to condemn the office seizures.
Meanwhile, three Palestinians were injured yesterday in two separate bomb explosions in Nablus.
The three men were suspected terrorists, but Israeli officials denied any involvement in the explosions.
Israeli police launched an investigation into the death of a Palestinian cab driver who crashed after someone in a car bearing Israeli license plates hit him with a rock.
Investigators suspect Jewish extremists were responsible for the attack.