Palestinian suicide bomber wounds 30 people in Netanya

Zohar Eviatar was sitting outsideCafe London in the Mediterranean resort town of Netanya at lunchtime yesterday with her mother and year-old daughter, Ma'ayan, when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up and wounded at least 30 Israelis, six of them seriously.

Ma'ayan was in a baby seat, with a pram next to her. The pram probably saved the child, who escaped with nothing worse than shock. Recovering in a local hospital, Ms Eviatar reflected last night on the miracle and the horror.

"The pram took the blast," she said. "I saw a body part in it. We were covered in blood, but thank God it wasn't ours."

The attack came one year and three days after another suicide bomber killed 29 Jews celebrating Passover in the nearby Park Hotel – an atrocity which prompted Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, to send his tanks to re-occupy Jenin and other West Bank Palestinian towns, where they remain to this day.

Yesterday's bombing attack was the third suffered by Netanya since then and Israel's first since March 5, when 17 passengers were killed on a Haifa bus. It was also the first since American-led forces invaded Iraq two weeks ago.

The radical Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility for the Café London explosion.

Sa'eb Erakat, a senior Palestinian peace negotiator, said: "The Palestinian leadership condemns targeting civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli."

David Baker, a spokesman for Mr Sharon, said: "Palestinian terror has struck once again at innocent Israelis. The trail of terror continues unabated."

Despite the relative quiet since the beginning of 2003, security sources say they receive dozens of warnings and are constantly thwarting raids.

Netanya – 10 miles west of the Palestinian town of Tulkarm – is second only to Jerusalem among the bombers' targets.

Islamic Jihad struck yesterday on a sunny spring day in Herzl Street, a pedestrian mall lined with cafes and gift shops, which was splattered with broken glass and crockery, half-eaten chips and hamburgers.

Witnesses said the bomber tried to enter Café London, but half a dozen off-duty soldiers blocked his way. He drew back a couple of yards, and then detonated his backpack. One of the soldiers was seriously wounded. The casualties included at least two Israeli Arab citizens.

Police said the carnage would have been much worse if he had got into the café – or if he had been carrying more than two or three kilos of high explosive. Many of the injuries were caused by nuts and bolts, flying like improvised shrapnel, with which the bomb was stuffed.

Aviva Komeroff's travel agency one floor above the street was rocked by the blast. "I heard a terrible sound," she said, "and then the silence of death. I rushed down and saw people shaking dreadfully. Many were in shock. I helped a soldier who had lost at least two fingers."

Yosef Shmuel, an Orthodox Jew in his fifties, was flung to the ground and his skullcap flew 15 yards. Another middle-aged survivor, Levana Taniana, was knocked unconscious. All she could remember afterwards were plates and cups flying in all directions. She lunches at Café London twice a week, and insisted she would go back.

The bombers have driven away many of the older British Jews, who account for much of Netanya's sedate tourist trade, but the locals are refusing to be cowed. Mali Wasserman, who runs a jewellery shop opposite the café, said: "We are suspicious of everybody. We look at people's faces as they walk past. But we are not going to change our lifestyle."

Miriam Feierberg, Netanya's mayor, said: "We are living with tension all the time. However hard we try, we can't prevent everything." The café had no security guard, but voluntary policemen were patrolling the mall.

Yesterday was Land Day, when Israel's one million Arab citizens commemorate clashes 27 years ago, when soldiers shot dead six demonstrators protesting at the seizure of Arab-owned land in the Galilee. As many as 100,000 marched yesterday through the town of Sakhnin, where most of the six died. The police kept their distance after leaders promised there would be no violence.

Although the rallies passed peacefully this year, the security services suspect that the Netanya bombing was timed for Land Day. They believe the bomber slipped across the West Bank border a few days ago and bided his time.

Dr Anat Kurtz, a Tel-Aviv expert on international terrorism, argued that Islamic Jihad and other extremists were deliberately challenging the newly appointed Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, who is trying to put together a government that will discipline the militants and lead the Palestinian back to negotiations with Israel. A compromise peace is not on their agenda.