TEL AVIV, Israel, May 19 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber Monday killed three Israelis at the entrance to a shopping mall in northern Israel, dealing a blow to the still-fragile "road map" to peace in the Middle East.
The bombing in Afula, 10 miles north of the West Bank town of Jenin, was the sixth fatal Palestinian attack since Saturday night.
Twelve people were killed in three suicide bombings in Hebron, Jerusalem and Afula. There were no Israelis casualties in three other incidents, but four Palestinian attackers were killed.
"This is a wave of terror," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said.
In Monday's attack, the bomber approached the entrance to a shopping mall in eastern Afula, beside the road to Jenin. The bomb exploded after the militant was checked by security guards, Channel 2 TV said.
Some 70 people were wounded, hospital records said.
There were conflicting reports on whether the bomber was male or female.
Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, which claimed responsibility, named the bomber as Heiba Dararmeh. Separately, Islamic Jihad also claimed responsibility for it.
Police spokesman Gil Kleiman stressed the bomber's gender was "still unclear," but close to midnight said there was "an increased possibility" it was a woman.
Israel's defense minister said the spate of attacks "are designed to foil the process that began several weeks ago with the appointment of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) to prime minister."
Abu Mazen negotiated the Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinians, opposes the use of armed means to achieve Palestinian goals, and undertook to curb illegal Palestinian use of arms. He faces strong opposition from Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Israeli officials blamed Arafat as well.
"Arafat is making every effort to foil the (peace) process," Mofaz said.
The United States and Israel have refused to deal with Arafat and Washington waited for Abu Mazen's appointment as prime minister before it tabled the "road map." Media reports say the relations between the two men have been tense since then.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks.
"The aim of carrying out such suicide bombing attacks against Israeli civilians is aiming at destroying all the international efforts to achieve peace and to implement the 'road map' peace plan," it said in a statement.
It said the Palestinian leadership would do all it can to rebuild its security apparatus if Israel implements an immediate cease-fire, pulls its troops and forces out of the occupied territories, and ends all "incursions, destruction and assassinations."
Meanwhile, Arafat rejected attempts to link his to the attacks, calling it an "Israeli campaign of propaganda."
"I completely denounce these terrorist suicide bombing attacks, but they (Israelis) are doing a wide campaign against me to expand the siege imposed on me," he said.
The Palestinian Authority president has been besieged by Israeli troops in his Ramallah headquarters for more than a year.
In Washington, President Bush condemned the attacks, but said the United States will persist with efforts to bring peace to the region.
The spate of attacks led Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to postpone his trip to Washington in which he was to raise objections to the "road map."
Instead he convened a Cabinet meeting Sunday and discussed the possibility of increasing the number of "administrative detentions" of Palestinians, which Israel says prevents violence.
The ministers also considered deportations -- whether to Gaza or abroad.
Sharon also rejected a proposal to expel Arafat.
"A situation in which he (travels abroad and is received with) honor guards would be less comfortable to Israel than if he stays in the Muqataa," his bomb-damaged headquarters in Ramallah, Sharon said.
He also said any foreigner who asks to see the Palestinian president will not be allowed to meet any Israeli official. The ruling will not apply to several ministers, including the French foreign minister, who have already filed requests to see Arafat.
Sharon Saturday night met Abu Mazen for some three hours, but they reached only one agreement: to meet again, shortly.
(With reporting by Saud Abu Ramadan in Gaza)
