The United States on Monday condemned the suicide bombing that killed a woman in Israel, saying it underscored the need to make progress on the Middle East peace process launched in November.
The White House also called on the Palestinian Authority to crack down on terrorism and criticized the Islamist movement Hamas for backing such attacks.
“The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Dimona, Israel, today that killed one Israeli citizen and injured many others,” the White House said in a statement.
“We also condemn those terrorist groups, including Hamas, which condone these horrific actions. We call upon the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, who condemned this attack, to redouble their efforts to act against terrorism,” it said.
The blast in Dimona, near the site of Israel’s top secret nuclear reactor, was the first suicide bombing on Israeli soil since the relaunch of peace talks at a US conference in November and triggered scenes of panic in the town.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States would work with its allies to find an Israeli-Palestinian agreement while also implicitly urging Syria to stop Hamas from firing rockets into Israel from Gaza.
“Certainly, that was terrible news to hear,” McCormack said about the suicide bombing.
“We condemn the attack and greatly regret the loss of life. And our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims, and certainly wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured,” McCormack added.
Ongoing violence underscored the need to promote the new peace process, he said.
“We need to do everything that we possibly can, along with our partners in the international system, to help the Israelis and the Palestinians come to a political agreement and accommodation on the issues that separate them,” he said.
“At that point, the Palestinian people will be able to decide which pathway they want to go down,” he said.
“Do they want to go down the pathway of having a Palestinian state or do they want to continue down a pathway represented by Hamas and other rejectionist groups that’s a pathway of violence and that does not lead to a state?” he asked.
He implicitly called on Syria, which supports Hamas and other Palestinian radical groups, to make Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, which it captured from the moderate Fatah faction in June last year.
“We are going to do everything that we can to urge any states in the region that may have influence with the Palestinians and the Palestinians in Gaza to cease — have those rocket attacks that are emanating from Gaza cease,” he said. “That is critically important.”
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