Islamic Resistance Movement Palestine

Cafe Apropos was alive with the Purim holiday spirit Friday afternoon when a young man walked in, carrying a duffel bag past children in costume and waiters in brightly colored masks. The man seemed nervous as he made his way through the sun-warmed terrace into the restaurant, then back outside again to select a table in the middle of the crowd. Host Tal Zrihal went to get him a menu. "When I turned around, there was an explosion. Glass shards fell like rain.

In a grotesque attack that Israelis had been anticipating for days, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded cafe here during celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Purim on Friday, killing three women and wounding 46 other people. Waiters and wounded customers at the chic cafe, on a tree-lined residential street, said a man in his 20s entered the restaurant carrying one or two duffel bags and then sat down at an outdoor table. Minutes later, the restaurant exploded in a flash.

Israeli troops fired live ammunition at a crowd of Arab protesters here Saturday in clashes that injured about 100 Palestinians and dealt yet another blow to Israeli-Palestinian relations a day after a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv cafe. Three women and the Palestinian bomber died in the Friday afternoon blast, which injured dozens of other people, including 26 who remained hospitalized Saturday.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has asked the United States to refrain from extraditing a top leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas to Israel, an aide said Thursday. The request came as pressure piled up on Washington not to hand over Mousa abu Marzuk, the political leader of Hamas, to Israel after he withdrew a court appeal against his extradition. Israel plans to try Abu Marzuk, who is now jailed in New York, for his alleged role in financing and plotting terror attacks.

Saying he was "ready to go to Israel and suffer martyrdom," Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, political leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, withdrew his appeal Wednesday of a judge's ruling allowing his extradition to Israel, where he faces terrorism charges. Abu Marzook's decision after more than 18 months in prison means he could be deported within 60 days unless the State Department intervenes and rejects Israel's request.

Hamas leader Mousa abu Marzuk arrived in Jordan on Monday after 21 months in detention in the United States for violating immigration laws. "I leave the ordeal of my imprisonment behind me to resume the lawful and internationally sanctioned activities that will lead to a redress of Palestinian rights," Abu Marzuk said in a statement released in the United States. "In so doing, I leave U.S. policymakers to grapple with their collective conscience over my wrongful imprisonment."

King Hussein has decided to allow the political leader of the militant Islamic group Hamas back into the country two years after he was expelled, an official said. Information Minister Samir Mutawe said the king, for humanitarian reasons, would permit Mousa abu Marzuk, who is sought by Israel as a suspected terrorist, to return to Jordan unconditionally. Abu Marzuk, a U.S.

The Volvos, Mercedeses and battered taxis arrived one after the other outside an elegant rented villa in western Amman this week, dropping off a steady stream of visitors eager to meet the man inside. Aides offered Arabic sweets and steaming coffee as Jordanian dignitaries, Islamic militants and foreign reporters waited together for Mousa abu Marzuk, the senior Hamas leader freed this week after 21 months of detention in the United States on suspicion of terrorism.

A Southern Californian whose car crashed into a crowded bus stop Monday probably was committing a terrorist act, Israeli police said Tuesday. Police had said Monday that they were unsure whether Ahmed Abdel Hamid Hamida, a Palestinian American, plowed into the Jerusalem bus stop deliberately or simply lost control of his rental car on a rain-slicked road. An Israeli was killed and 22 other people were injured before armed civilian bystanders killed Hamida.

An unofficial delegation of Palestinian political leaders and intellectuals, hoping to act as intermediaries between the militant Islamic group Hamas and Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority, plans to travel to Jordan later this week to meet with leaders of the extremist organization.