Jaffa Street is a popular thoroughfare in downtown Jerusalem, its stores and sidewalks invariably crowded with shoppers and pedestrians. It has also become one of the bloodiest frontlines in the war between Israel and Palestinians. Last week alone, there were two terrorist attacks on Jaffa Street. The descent into violence appears unstoppable: Attempts to punish the Palestinian Authority for its failure to take action against terrorists now only hinder its ability to act. Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has only himself to blame.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew herself up on Jaffa Street, killing one bystander and wounding at least a dozen others. Last week, a Palestinian gunman opened fire with an automatic rifle a few meters away from the site of Sunday's blast. Two women were killed and more than a dozen people were injured before he was shot dead by police.
Last summer, a suicide bomber killed 15 people in a pizzeria just across the street from the weekend attack. In Tel Aviv last week, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a pedestrian mall, wounding 24 people. All together, Palestinian militants have carried out more than 30 suicide bombings in the year and a half since the second intifada was launched.