JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Israel on Saturday blamed Syria for the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv which Damascus denied, while the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

    Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz blamed Syria for the suicide bombing that killed four Israelis in Israel's Tel Aviv oneday earlier, Army Radio reported.

    Israeli officials will go abroad in the coming days to present a diplomatic offensive against Damascus for a UN condemnation of Syria, said a statement issued by Mofaz's office.

    "The defense minister ruled that Israel sees Syria and the Islamic Jihad movement as those standing behind the murderous attack in Tel Aviv," said the statement, without mentioning whether there will be military actions against Syria.

    The minister has frozen plans on handing over security control of five cities in the West Bank to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), said the statement.

    "With all our desire to move ahead with a process to which we are obligated, we cannot carry on and be indifferent to the murderous activities of the terrorist organizations," Mofaz was quoted as saying.

    Violence against Israeli targets had dropped sharply in the Palestinian territories during the past two months as the PNA succeeded in talking militant groups into a de facto ceasefire, while Israel earlier this month promised to withdraw from five West Bank towns within weeks.

    Syria, meanwhile, on Saturday denied Israel's blame over its alleged role in the attack.

    "Syria has no link to this operation or any other attacks, and the Damascus office of the Islamic Jihad had been closed," said sources of the Syrian Foreign Ministry.     

    ISLAMIC JIHAD CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY

    The Islamic Jihad on Saturday claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in a statement posted on its official website.

    "Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad in Palestine, declared its responsibility for the heroic martyrdom operation that occurred in Tel Aviv on Friday," said the statement.

    Earlier on Saturday, al-Jezeera aired a videotape which showed a man vowing to carry out the attack.

    The man, calling himself as Abdullah Badran, vowed to avenge Israel's killing of Palestinians.

    Palestinian officials later said Badran, 21, was a university student from a village near the West Bank town of Tulkarm,

    Meanwhile, Abdullah Shibaya, one of the movement's officials ofTulkarm, said in a video tape that "the attack was carried out in response to killings and destruction of houses" by Israel.

    The official also accused the PNA of collaborating with Israel and the United States.     

¡¡¡¡ABBAS VOWS TO TRACK DOWN THOSE BREAK THE PEACE PROCESS

    Chairman of the PNA Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday vowed to track down those break the peace process.

    "We believe there is a third party that wants to sabotage this process," Abbas said, pledging to "track them down and bring them to justice and punish them."

    Failing to elaborate on the third party, Abbas said he was exchanging information with Israel, the United States and Europe.

    The Palestinian police have arrested two people allegedly having ties to the attack.

    Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei condemned the attack as "an insult to the Palestinian national struggle at a critical moment."

    "The attack came in complex and important circumstances as there is an agreement with the Palestinian factions and forces on calmness in the region which facilitates the chance for reviving the peace process," Qurei said in a statement.     

    US URGES PNA TO FIND OUT THE RESPONSIBLE

    The US government has urged the PNA to find out those responsible for the attack, said the White House on Saturday.

    "We have been in touch with the Palestinian leadership to urge immediate and credible action by Palestinian security authorities,in cooperation with the government of Israel, to determine who is behind this terrorist act and to bring them to justice," said the White House in a statement.

    At least four people were killed and 38 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up Friday night outside a discotheque on a Tel Aviv promenade.

    The death toll from the blast is expected to rise as some of the wounded are in serious or critical condition, medics said. Altogether 17 people have been hospitalized. Enditem