HIGHLIGHTS: Hamas Says Attacks Will Continue||PA Accuses Hamas of Timing Bombings to Serve Its Own Ends|| Yassin accuses Israel of Deliberately Targeting Palestinian Civilians, Especially children||STORY: A senior Palestinian official called on armed groups fighting Israeli occupation to limit their operations to the territories the Jewish state occupied in 1967. (Read photo caption)

Speaking to AFP the Palestinian Authority secretary general, Ahmed Abdel Rahman added that "In the debate on the attacks in Israel, we have to remember the national interest, Palestinian public opinion, and developments which have shown the necessity of not committing acts which isolate the Palestinian people on the international scene.

He specifically called for restraint from the Islamic group Hamas, which carried out the latest bombing inside Israel.

Top Palestinian officials claimed last week that Hamas had timed its latest attack to thwart a possible ceasefire and to undermine the authority of Yasser Arafat.

Bassil Jabr, a spokesman for Arafat's Palestinian Authority, accused Hamas of deliberately trying to escalate the crisis for its own ends.

"The main political interest of Hamas these days is the same as Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's. Both are trying to do their best to prevent any progress in the peace process and to get rid of Arafat," he added.

Hamas and its spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yasin pledged that attacks on Israeli civilians would continue no matter what Arafat or the Palestinian Authority says.

Yassin accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians, especially children, in its unrestrained war of annihilation against the Palestinian people.

Asked if he was worried about a likely crackdown on Hamas by Palestinian Authority police, Yasin said resistance to the Israeli occupation would continue so long as the occupation itself remained "entrenched in our streets and our neighborhoods."

"We are willing to make more sacrifices for freedom. We want freedom for our people, nothing more."

PHOTO CAPTION:

Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab speaks below a map of the West Bank during an interview at his home in Gaza Thursday May 9, 2002. Abu Shanab, a graduate of Colorado State University, said he was not concerned about the threat of Israeli military attacks on Gaza, and that Hamas was committed to its policies, which include an ongoing Resistance bomb campaign. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)