Israel claims it has identified the man who orchestrated the two latest Jerusalem suicide bombings. As the Israelis and the Palestinians gear up to resume peace negotiations next week, their security forces are hunting down Mr Adel Awdallah, a Hamas activist from the West Bank city of Ramallah, who is believed to have assembled the bombs used in the July 30th and September 4th blasts.
His father insisted yesterday that Mr Awdallah had fled their home two years ago, to avoid a summons for questioning by the Palestinian police force, and that he had spoken of plans to open a grocery store. His mother was adamant that all talk of his involvement in the bombings was "a lie".
But the Israeli authorities, who have been interrogating dozens of alleged Hamas militants arrested in recent weeks, are branding Mr Awdallah "the second engineer" - successor to the Hamas bombmaker, Yihya Ayash, believed responsible for several previous suicide bombings, who was assassinated by Israel in Gaza almost two years ago.
Israeli officials say the orders for the bombings came not from the West Bank or Gaza, but from Hamas headquarters in Damascus. Hamas spokesmen have this week been threatening more bombings, in the wake of an attack on one of their leaders in Jordan.
A day after agreement was reached in New York to renew peace talks, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, declared yesterday that he intended to maintain his policy of building "for natural growth" in the settlements. Palestinian leaders reacted angrily to the comments, since Israel had agreed to consider a "time out" in settlement building in the context of the resuming negotiations.