Two car bombs exploded in northern Israel last night, just hours after Israel and the Palestinians signed a new peace treaty, confirming fears that the revival of peace efforts could also spark a revival in violent opposition.
Three people were killed in the blasts, in the towns of Tiberias and Haifa. Police said that the dead men were a driver and a passenger in the first explosion, in which a car blew up a few hundred yards from the Tiberias town centre, and the driver of the Haifa car, which exploded in a car park near to the central bus station. A passer-by was badly hurt in the Tiberias blast, and several other people were slightly injured.
In both cases, the police said, it appeared that the explosions had detonated prematurely, frustrating the bombers' plans to kill Israeli civilians. No organisation took immediate responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion was immediately focused on the Islamic extremists of Hamas, who have carried out a series of suicide bombings in Israeli cities over the years, and resisted efforts by the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, to reform into a political, rather a violent and militant, opposition to the peace process.
The blasts triggered a street protest in Tiberias, with marchers condemning Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, for renewing the peace accords with the Palestinians. Likud opposition politicians also immediately demanded that he freeze Saturday's treaty - under which Israel is next week to begin handing over further slices of occupied West Bank land and start a phased series of Palestinian prisoner releases.
Mr Barak, however, made clear last night that he had no intention of suspending the deal. At the same time, though, his aides said he would investigate the blasts thoroughly, and demand that Mr Arafat take whatever steps necessary to help thwart further bombings. Palestinian officials condemned the attacks.
Yesterday's explosions punctured the atmosphere of enthusiasm and optimism created, a little after midnight, at the Egyptian port of Sharm al-Sheikh, by the signing of the new accord. At the ceremony, hosted with a minimum of formality by Egypt's President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, and attended by Jordan's King Abdullah and the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, Mr Barak and Mr Arafat had praised each other's commitment to peace, pledged to work together to smoothly implement the deal, and shaken hands warmly.
The new deal supercedes the Wye River accord, signed by Mr Barak's predecessor, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, which was concluded last October, but frozen by Mr Netanyahu soon afterwards. Under the revised accord, Israel will turn over another 11 per cent of the West Bank between now and next February, with the first pullout due next week.
Next week, the first 200 of 350 Palestinian prisoners are to be freed, with the rest to be released in early October. At that time, a "safe passage" route is to be opened for Palestinians to travel between Gaza and the West Bank, across Israel, and work is to start on building a port in Gaza.
Opposed by some on the Israeli rightwing, the deal is also being heavily criticised by some Palestinians - especially because no East Jerusalemite prisoners are to be set free. In East Jerusalem yesterday, shops stayed shut in protest.
Prisoners' families held protests on Saturday, also, in Bethlehem and Hebron.
Overall, though, most mainstream leaders on both sides have welcomed the deal, in common with much of the international community. Importantly, it commits the Israelis and Palestinians to intensive talks on a permanent settlement between them, with an ambitious - or, more accurately, unrealistic - target completion date of next September. Mr Barak hopes to move forward, as well, toward a peace treaty with Syria and Lebanon, but Ms Albright has so far been unable to mediate the terms for a resumption of peace talks between Jerusalem and Damascus.
Perhaps the main difference between the Sharm deal and that signed at the Wye plantation, as the Israeli commentator, Nahum Barnea, wrote yesterday, "is that Barak intends, and has the political wherewithal, to implement it". But that political ability was undermined slightly yesterday, when a five-man ultra-Orthodox faction, United Torah Judaism, withdrew from his coalition - in protest at the desecration of the Sabbath involved in transporting parts for a power station across the country. Mr Barak still has 68 of the 120 Knesset members behind him, but that number could fall too, and his government enter real crisis - taking the peace process down with it - if the bombings continue.
Reuters adds:
The US President, Mr Clinton, is intimately involved in trying to end a three-year-old deadlock in Israeli-Syrian talks and find a formula for lasting peace, his special Middle East envoy said yesterday. Mr Dennis Ross said that US officials, upbeat after two days of talks with Israeli and Syrian leaders, would keep up contacts with both countries in the coming days and weeks.
"This is a process in which the president has been intimately involved. It's a measure of his commitment, a measure of his interest and a measure of the importance of his direct contact with the parties," he said.
Despite their differences, Israel and Syria have undergone a change in attitude since the May election of Mr Barak, Mr Ross said.