A woman, reportedly a female student from Al-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus blew herself up in central Jerusalem, killing an 81 year old Israeli man and injuring scores. 150 people were hospitalized, two listed in serious condition. The blast occurred after noon Sunday on Jaffa Road, just down the block from last week's terrorist shooting attack.

Initial police investigations indicate that the bomber carried a large quantity of explosives. Damage was caused to more than 20 stores on Jaffa Road. Most of the injured were reported suffering from very light injuries. Jerusalem Police Commander Mickey Levy was hospitalized after suffering a serious heart attack at the site of the blast. He is now reported to be in stable condition.

Israeli Police Chief Shlomo Aharonishky said that Jerusalem is an easy target for terrorists because of its mixed population and the fact that police cannot hermetically seal the city. "That is why our police presence here is much greater," he said.

Pinchas Toktaly, 81, a fifth-generation Jerusalemite, was returning home from buying art supplies after a painting class. His landscapes of Jerusalem were to be featured in a public exhibition, according to his son. After his retirement, he became a cycle buff and even started a cycling club. He will be buried tomorrow, leaving behind his wife Hanna, four children, and 13 grandchildren.

Twin Tower survivor gets lucky again
Among the injured was Mark Sokolow of Woodmere, Long Island, 43, who was visiting Israel with his wife and two young daughters. He was waiting for them to pick some shoes when he felt the blast. "We heard a huge explosion," Sokolov told Haaretz. "The terrorist must have been very close to us. I fell down, but fortunately, I was only hit by some small pieces of shrapnel. I got up and started to look for my family. People were trying to push me into an ambulance, but I didn't want to before I found my children. I couldn't find them, because they must also have been rushed off to hospital. Eventually, they managed to get me into an ambulance."

A lawyer, he was evacuated from the 38th floor of the World Trade Center south tower on September 11th after the first tower collapsed. The brush with death caused him to change his family's travel plans. "We changed our plans to bring our whole family here," said Sokolow, who described himself as a religious Jew. "We just felt it was more important that we do this and come here and spend time in Israel, as opposed to going elsewhere."

When reporters questioned whether Sokolow felt safer in New York or Jerusalem, he quipped that it was not a great time to ask the question. "I feel very lucky, that I am even alive to talk about it, that I survived both attacks. I still have to think about what it all means." Although injured in his eye socket, Sokolov is expected to fully recover.

"I am sure there are many parallels that I'll be able to figure out," Sokolow said. "I don't know. I was obviously a lot luckier last time. This one involved my whole family," he said. His wife and daughters were also injured by the blast.

Friday suicide bombing in Tel Aviv
The Jerusalem blast came two days after a suicide bombing in southern Tel Aviv, in which more than 30 people were injured. The bombing occurred at around noon in a pedestrian mall near the city's old central bus station, an area heavily populated with foreign workers, who comprised the majority of the casualties.

The Lebanon-based, Hizbullah-run television station Al-Manar identified the Tel Aviv bomber as Sapwat Ibrahim Khalil, 18, of Beit Wazan, west of Nablus. Khalil was a member of Islamic Jihad, dispatched by the organization's cells in Tulkarm and Nablus.

Investigators believe that a second terrorist planned to open fire as rescue and security personnel arrived at the scene of the blast. Police arrested a suspected accomplice seen fleeing the area, and discovered a Kalashnikov rifle and six magazines of ammunition nearby.

Israeli jets retaliate for Palestinian attacks
The IDF struck Palestinian Authority security targets in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip this weekend in response to Friday's suicide bombing in southern Tel Aviv and an earlier rocket attack on northern Gaza.

"IDF units will strike at targets belonging to the PA, which is directly responsible for the continuation of attacks, as long as it does not do what is necessary to stop the mortar and rocket fire and foil terror," an IDF statement said.

Shortly after Friday's suicide bombing, IAF F-16 jets bombed the abandoned Mukata police installation in Tulkarm for the second time in two weeks, saying that the suicide bomber had been sent from there. Palestinian sources reported one death and 40 injuries as a result of the strike.

Israeli jets also struck the Ansar security compound and a military vehicle depot belonging to Yasser Arafat's Force 17 presidential guard in Gaza City. Palestinian officials reported that eight vehicles were destroyed and seven people were injured. A helicopter launch pad was also decimated.

Meanwhile, the IDF withdrew from the a-Tira neighborhood of Ramallah on Friday. The army had established positions there following the terrorist shooting in Hadera one week earlier, which claimed six lives. IDF sources said the withdrawal was a tactical move, and that the army would continue to patrol the area, Ha'aretz reported.

Attacks and reprisals continue in Gaza on Saturday
On Saturday night, the IDF fired three surface-to-surface missiles at the eastern Gaza Strip and tank shells at two towns in northern Gaza. Prior to the raid, Palestinians fired two mortar rounds at Jewish settlements in Gaza, which was accompanied by sporadic exchanges of fire. No injuries were caused.

The missiles struck an open area under Palestinian control where a cemetery and agricultural fields are located. Four Israeli tanks then proceeded 200 meters into Palestinian-ruled territory, Israeli security sources said, upon which Palestinians near the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun opened fire on them, which they returned with shells and heavy machine gun fire.

According to Army Radio, the tanks hit a group trying to dig under the border fence near Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the Israeli side of the Green Line. The report said that the men were trying to plant an explosive device.

In two additional security incidents on Saturday, an Israeli motorist was moderately wounded in a roadside shooting in the West Bank and a Hamas activist died after sustaining injuries at an IDF checkpoint. Palestinian sources accused IDF soldiers of letting Nassar Abu Salim bleed to death after shooting him in the leg. An IDF source claimed that Salim tried to grab a knife from a soldier, who responded by shooting him. Israel said that the wounded attacker was treated promptly by Israeli and Palestinian paramedics.

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