Palestinian Suicide Bombers Kill 6 Two Attacks On Israelis Cast Doubts On Future Of Selfrule Accord

Palestinian suicide attackers killed 6 Israelis and wounded at least 45 in two car bombings on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, casting fresh doubts on the future of the self-rule accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Two Muslim militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Holy War, took responsibility for the attacks. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin warned that unless the Palestinian Authority cracked down hard on the militants in its territory, expansion of Palestinian self-rule throughout the West Bank was in serious question.

The first attack, in which 6 soldiers were killed and more than 30 other people wounded, was aimed at a bus near Kfar Darom, a settlement about 10 miles southwest of Gaza City. The second blast hit an Israeli convoy about 6 miles away, on a road to the settlement of Netzarim, and caused several casualties.

“Certainly what happened here today, this despicable murder by extremist suicide attackers, makes it very difficult to see how we can reach a situation in which we will be able to continue,” Rabin said as he visited the site of the bus bombing. “The Palestinian Authority must prove that it can act against these groups.”

Israel and the PLO have set July 1 as a deadline for an agreement on Palestinian elections and an accompanying Israeli withdrawal from West Bank towns that would take self-rule beyond Gaza and Jericho.

Seeking to shore up the peace effort, Secretary of State Warren Christopher called both Rabin and Yasir Arafat, the PLO chairman, to express condolences and to urge that the talks stay on course.

President Clinton condemned the bombings as “terrorist outrages,” saying they should not be allowed to disrupt attempts to reach peace. He pledged “to exert all possible efforts to insure a just, comprehensive and lasting peace” in the Middle East.

Rabin received a call from Arafat, and urged him to do more to stop militant violence. King Hussein of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt also called Rabin.