Israeli occupation troops on Tuesday demolished the family homes of a resistance bomber and another suspected resistance man near the West Bank city of Nablus, the occupation army and witnesses said. In the Balata refugee camp, occupation troops surrounded the home of Ibrahim Naji, who blew himself up in an attack in Tel Aviv in July that killed five people. Nineteen residents of the two-story building were ordered to leave without being able to remove belongings, witnesses said.

Two adjacent houses were damaged by the blast, witnesses said.

In Kfar Salem near Nablus, occupation soldiers demolished the two-story home of Mahmoud Issa, who was arrested by Israeli occupation soldiers three months ago, witnesses said. The occupation army said Issa, as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was responsible for organizing several attacks in which one Israeli was killed and more than 14 injured.

The occupation army said in a statement confirming the demolitions that they were part of "the framework of the struggle against Palestinian terror,"

"The army will continue to take all the legal steps it has at its disposal in order to strike at 'activists', those who send them and those aiding them," the release said.

Israel has in recent months renewed the practice of demolishing houses in an effort deter resistance men from carrying out attacks. More than 30 Palestinian homes have been demolished since June.

Israel Holds Off on Retaliation

Israel held off on immediate retaliation Tuesday for a bus bombing that killed 14 Israelis, along with two attackers, and complicated a new U.S. effort to end two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

It marked the first time in months that the Israeli military did not respond quickly to a major Palestinian attack. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is under growing pressure to prevent an escalation in fighting as the United States courts moderate Arab countries in preparation for a possible U.S. strike against Iraq.

Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai confirmed that U.S. interests were being considered. "There are those (in Israel) who say that we need to react now and immediately with all power and all force," Yishai told Israel Occupation army Radio on Tuesday. "On the other hand, we could cause difficulties for the Americans. If the Americans attack Iraq, it's in our interest as well as that of the Americans."

Monday's bombing, the deadliest Palestinian attack in three months, was claimed by the resistance man Islamic Jihad group. It came as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns was touring the region, planning talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials about a U.S. peace outline.

In the attack, a car stuffed with 220 pounds of explosives rammed a bus that had stopped at a highway in northern Israel during afternoon rush hour. The explosion set the bus on fire, with flames leaping high into the air, and turned it into a charred mass of twisted metal. More explosions went off as ammunition carried by occupation soldiers on the bus blew up, witnesses said.

Many passengers were trapped by the flames. "The explosion was so strong that I fell to the floor," Michael Itzhaki, a passenger who was sitting behind the bus driver, told Occupation army Radio. "We succeeded in getting one soldier off the bus ... We couldn't get (back) on the bus because it was on fire."

The victims were badly burned, and by Tuesday morning, only four of the 14 dead had been identified. Sixty-five people were wounded and 25 remained hospitalized Tuesday, including six who were in serious condition. One of those seriously hurt was a 2-year-old girl.

Islamic Jihad did not identify the assailants. However, residents of the West Bank town of Jenin said two young men, Mohammed Hassanein and Ashraf Al Asmar, had been missing for several days.

The attack went off near the town of Hadera, an area hit hard by Palestinian attacks at Israel's narrowest point, less than 10 miles from the line between Israel and the West Bank but near the Mediterranean coast.

On June 5, 17 people were killed in a similar attack at a nearby intersection, and anonymous Israeli security sources, quoted on Israel Radio and TV, said Eyad Sawalha, 30, an Islamic Jihad leader based in Jenin, was behind both attacks.

Israeli security has been looking for Sawalha for months. Israeli occupation troops last week withdrew from Jenin last week.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat denounced the bombing. "You know that the Palestinian leadership position is against such attacks that target civilians, Israelis or Palestinians," he told reporters at his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres held Arafat's Palestinian Authority ultimately responsible, arguing that his security occupation forces have made no serious attempt to prevent attacks. Peres was speaking during a trip to Brussels, Belgium.
The Palestinians say Israel's devastating occupation army strikes have rendered their security occupation forces impotent against the resistance men.

In the past, Israel has launched occupation army offensives in retaliation for major Palestinian attacks. This time, the response was expected to be more limited, possibly including strikes directed at Islamic Jihad. The process of gradually easing work and travel restrictions on Palestinians might be frozen, occupation army officials said.

"The government of Israel will have to take all necessary precautions to stop the next ticking bomb that it is on its way," said the chief occupation army spokeswoman, Brig. Gen. Ruth Yaron.

An occupation troop withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron was being put on hold, but not called off, Israeli radio reports said.

Mark Sofer, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said the attack was intended to undermine the visit of Burns, who is due in Israel on Wednesday, carrying a U.S. road map for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"A new glimmer of hope had arrived in the Middle East with the possible road map," Sofer said. "Immediately some Palestinian groups seized the opportunity to carry out yet another murderous attack inside of Israel."

The Burns mission is the first high-level U.S. attempt in months to engage in Mideast peacemaking on the ground.
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush condemned the attack.

"It's another reminder of how it's so important for peace to be pursued and for terror to be stopped," Fleischer told reporters.

PHOTO CAPTION
Israeli forensics examine the wreckage of the bus at the site of a bombing in northern Israel, Monday, Oct. 21, 2002. A car pulled up next to a bus and exploded in northern Israel during the Monday afternoon rush hour, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 30 as the entire bus was set aflame, according to police and radio reports. (AP Photo/ Eitan Hess Ashkenazi)