An Israeli court today sentenced a Hamas militant to 35 consecutive life sentences for masterminding the deadliest single attack in a more than five-year-old Palestinian uprising.
Abbas al-Sayed was found guilty by a Tel Aviv district court of planning and orchestrating the 2002 Passover suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in Netanya, which killed 30 Israelis.
Sayed was also found guilty of the 2001 bombing at a shopping centre in the seaside city in which five people died.
Sayed, who headed Hamas's military wing in Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, was convicted of 35 counts of murder and of "being a member of a terrorist organisation", the court said.
The court added that Sayed had the right to appeal the ruling within 45 days.
As he was taken out of court in handcuffs, Sayed told reporters: "The (Israeli) occupation is the most destablising element here. It is the problem."
Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, has been behind a campaign of suicide bombings since a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after peace talks failed.
Israel's defence minister Shaul Mofaz today proposed limited voting in Arab East Jerusalem in this month's Palestinian elections but the government said it would not tolerate Hamas candidates being on ballots in the city.