Haaretz
Tamuz 3, 5765
Cabinet
Ministers on Sunday rejected British Prime Minister Tony Blair's
contention that the Mideast conflict is one of the underlying causes of
terror, saying the London bombings are part of a wider terror war being
waged against Western countries.
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
said Sunday that "the terrorists operating in London last week were doing
it as part of a comprehensive terrorist war against the Western
civilization similar to what they've done in America, similar to what
they've done in Spain."
Israeli officials have long stressed the
global nature of terror, apparently wary that a connection between attacks
on Western countries and Middle East policy could increase pressure on
Israel to resolve its conflict with the Palestinians.
Cabinet
Minister Matan Vilnai said Western democracies, including Israel, are
being targeted by terror. "We are part of it and the whole free world is
now part of it," he said.
In a weekend interview on BBC Radio,
Blair said it was crucial to address terrorism's underlying causes, which
he identified as deprivation, lack of democracy and the ongoing conflict
in the Middle East.
"I think this type of terrorism has very deep
roots. As well as dealing with the consequences of this - trying to
protect ourselves as much as any civil society can - you have to try to
pull it up by its roots," Blair said, adding that this meant boosting
understanding between people of different religions, helping people in the
Middle East see a path to democracy and easing the conflict between Israel
and the Palestinians.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said
that Blair had "touched reality and spoke strategically of the need to
deal with the problems of this region."
"I believe a solution to
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not involve reinventing the wheel.
We all know the parameters. We all the know that this is going to be a
two-state solution. We all know that Israel needs to end its occupation
and secondly we need to see democracy in this region," he
said.
Report: Death toll rises to at least 70
The
official death toll in Thursday's terror attacks is still set at 49 but
the British press said the number has risen to at least 70, Israel Radio
reported on Sunday morning.
Investigators struggled in extreme
heat to retrieve bodies still trapped underground after the attacks, while
anxious relatives frantically looked for loved ones missing since the
rush-hour blasts on Thursday morning.
Police said the process of
recovering bodies could continue for days in a hot, narrow and
rat-infested tunnel deep below ground at King's Cross
station.
Tube bombs triggered 'within seconds of each
other'
British police said Saturday that the three bomb attacks on
London Underground trains occurred almost simultaneously. Another bomb
went off almost an hour later on a bus in central London.
"All
three bombs on the London Underground system actually exploded within
seconds of each other at around 8.50 in the morning," Scotland Yard deputy
assistant commissioner Brian Paddick told a news conference
Saturday.
He said this pointed towards the use of timers to trigger
the devices.
The explosions were so destructive that authorities
have not been able to identify a single body and are depending on
fingerprints, dental records and DNA analysis, detectives said
Saturday.
Sophisticated coordination is a hallmark of Al-Qaida, the
terror network blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States
and said by British officials to have possibly been behind the London
blasts.
Probe focusing on Moroccan national
In the
meanwhile, the investigation into the perpetrators of the attacks appeared
to be focusing on a Moroccan national who has mysteriously gone missing
from the British capital in recent days.
Scotland Yard and MI5 have
urgently requested help from European agencies in tracking down a Moroccan
national who has been living in Britain for 16 years and who is suspected
of past terrorist activity in Europe and North Africa, the daily newspaper
The Independent reported in Saturday's edition.
Mohammed
al-Gerbouzi, who has also been linked to terrorist attacks in Madrid and
Casablanca, disappeared from his home in London recently.
Al-Gerbouzi
later told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel that he was
innocent.
French and German security officials have accused
al-Gerbouzi of having links to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born
leader of the Islamic insurgency in Iraq said to be connected to Al-Qaida,
The Independent reported.
Morocco has repeatedly requested the
British government extradite al-Gerbouzi, who was granted political asylum
in the U.K. Al-Gerbouzi was convicted of involvement in terrorist attacks
in Casablanca which killed 44 people. After being tried in absentia, he
was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the paper said.
The
London-based Arabic language daily Al-Hayyat reported Saturday that
British security forces had raided the homes of, and taken into custody,
two Muslim students currently enrolled at the University of
London.
The newspaper also reported that police have detained and
questioned scores of Muslims, including those holding British citizenship,
within the last two days.