Christians and Jews celebrated the Easter and Jewish Passover season, Israeli officials said.
The suicide bomber blew himself up next to a fast-food restaurant on a busy street near a bus station in the Neve Shaanan area, which was crowded with holiday travelers. He detonated his explosives after he was stopped by a security guard asking him to open his back, preventing more bloodshed inside the packed restaurant. Debris was hurled up to 25 meters (yards) away, police said.
The new Palestinian government, led by Hamas, called the attack a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression." Israel said it held Hamas ultimately responsible even though a different militant group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility and would respond "as necessary."
"We shall, of course, continue to use all means at our disposal to prevent every other attempt," Israeli Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert told reporters. Israel Television’s Channel 2 said at least 15 of the wounded were in serious condition. The bomber reportedly struck the same restaurant, "The Mayor’s Felafel," that was hit by an attacker on January 19, medics said. In that attack about 20 people were wounded.
Two Palestinian militant groups have both claimed responsibility. 
A member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades told Reuters news agency the attack was to avenge "Israeli massacres" in the Gaza Strip while Islamic Jihad made its claim in a call to Israeli Radio. Video footage made clear however that the suicide bomber was very young and a member of Islamic Jihan, Sky News television said.
The attack came shortly after the Israeli government said it world end ties with the Palestinian Authority because of its links with militants and terrorism.
Olmert broke off ties with the Palestinian Authority saying it was "a hostile authority" and that Israel would act "to prevent the administrative establishment of the Hamas government" there. Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel and has so far refused to remove that pledge from its founding document.
"TWO HEADS"
In published comments, Saeb Erikat, a senior aide to the more moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, condemned the bombing. "I condemn this attack on behalf of President Abu Mazen, and I urge all Palestinian factions to observe a cessation of violence. Such attacks harm Palestinian interests," he said. But that was not expected ease tensions with Israel.
"The Palestinian Authority is one authority and does not have two heads; links with it will be reduced and no ties will be held with it. There will be no personal disavowal of the Palestinian Authority chairman" Olmert’s office said recently. The suicide bombing came at a time when Olmert continued to form a government and Israel’s parliament was to be sworn Monday, April 17, despite the bomb attack.
Former Prime Minister Simon Peres told reporters it was important there was no delay in the opening session so terrorists have no control over Israel’s democracy. "Our condolences go out to the families of the victims…But our work will continue," he said.
Monday’s attack was believed to make it even more complicated to revive the peace process, with Israeli television showing bystanders with blood on their shirts and the wounded being treated by the side of the road. Car windscreens were shattered by the blast which blew out the windows of nearby buildings.
MAJOR SETBACK
It came as a major setback for Israel which so far had hoped that the relative peaceful Easter weekend attended by thousands of Christians in Jerusalem would encourage more tourists to return to the Jewish nation. This weekend was seen as the busiest since the start of the Palestinian uprising five years ago.
Despite threats of violence and suicide attacks, pilgrims retraced the final steps of Jesus Christ on the Via Dolorosa through the narrow streets of the walled Old City to the site of His burial. Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the Vatican’s chief representative in the Holy Land, presided over the traditional Easter Day service and prayed for peace among people of all faiths.
"To the Jewish people who are celebrating Passover [at the same time this year], we pray that this feast will be for you and for everyone in this land a source of peace, justice and reconciliation," he reportedly said before those whishes were shattered by Monday’s suicide attack. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Israel. Stay with BosNewsLife for ongoing coverage).
