A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a crowded Israeli bus in Jerusalem yesterday, killing at least seven people on the eve of a World Court hearing on Israel?s controversial barrier in the West Bank.

Police said around 60 people were wounded in the blast, which turned the green number 14 bus into a charred skeleton at a busy intersection near the Inbal Hotel where leaders of major US Jewish organizations were meeting.

?People were screaming ?mommy, daddy?. There were body parts everywhere including some hands and feet scattered outside the bus,? medic Reuven Pohl said.

The World Court starts hearings in The Hague today on the legality of a West Bank barrier that Israel says keeps suicide bombers out, but which Palestinians call a land grab.

Yasser Arafat condemns attack

The militant group al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of President Yasser Arafat?s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement that called the barrier ?a Nazi wall which will not stop us attacking.?

But Arafat?s office condemned the attack and called the timing deliberate. It said the attack would harm its diplomatic campaign against the barrier and vowed action against ?irresponsible? militants.

The bomber struck during the morning rush hour at the start of the Israeli work week. Police said the bomb was packed with metal shards to make it more deadly.

?If there was a fence around Jerusalem there would not have been an attack today,? said Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid.

Al-Aqsa named the bomber as Mohammed Zaal, a 23-year-old from a village near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, and said the attack was a reaction to the barrier and to an Israeli raid that killed 15 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on February 11.

The Israeli army said it had sealed off Bethlehem soon after the attack. Palestinian groups have killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks during more than three years of conflict.

A Palestinian suicide bomber last struck in Jerusalem on January 29, killing 11 people on a number 19 bus. Israel has sent the wreckage of that vehicle to The Hague as part of its public relations offensive for the World Court hearings.

About 180 km of the planned 728 km West Bank barrier has been built.

Minutes before the blast, Israeli work crews began tearing down an eight km-long section of the barrier that separated a Palestinian village from the rest of the West Bank. Construction continues elsewhere, including near Jerusalem.

Destroying Palestinian interests

?The Palestinian murderers have again shown that Israel is not the aggressor, the Palestinians are, and that the fence was not meant for anything other than to save lives,? said Lapid. ?I hope that the 15 justices in The Hague understand the message.?

Palestinians call the barrier an attempt to seal a hold on land that Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war and where they want a state.

Vowing action against the militants behind the attack, Arafat?s office said it could not ignore ?this deliberate destruction of higher Palestinian interests.?

Israel accuses the Palestinians of failing to act against militant groups. The Palestinians complain that Israeli raids have destroyed their security forces and made action against militants unpopular.

The Hague court will issue a non-binding opinion at the request of the United Nations Israel has made a written submission, but will not attend the proceedings.

Dan Williams