Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lighted a memorial candle and prayed Wednesday at the site where two suicide bombs killed 15 people last week and then discussed prospects for salvaging Mideast peace with Jordanian leaders.
Netanyahu is facing growing international pressure to ease harsh sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority after the bombings, but, walking through Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market Wednesday, he showed little inclination to relent."I have mixed feelings - very bad feelings about the terrible murder that took place here but also feelings of inner strength . . . because we, the majority of the people, are united in our determination to fight these terrorists," Netanyahu said.
Stopping outside the stall of one merchant killed in the bombing, the prime minister donned a skullcap and recited a prayer for the dead.
After the attack, Israel canceled planned talks with the Palestinians, clamped a travel ban on the West Bank and Gaza and halted the transfer of vital tax revenues to the Palestinian self-rule government.
Early Wednesday, the Israeli army arrested 20 Palestinians suspected of "terrorist activity" in the West Bank, as part of an extensive strike against Islamic militants who claimed responsibility for the market bombing. Israel has arrested 176 Palestinians since the attack.
Netanyahu met with Jordan's Crown Prince Hassan and Prime Minister Abdel-Salam Majali as part of an effort to get Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
Israel's measures in the wake of the bombing drew harsh criticism from the 22-nation Arab League in Cairo on Tuesday. And Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called the Israeli crackdown "a criminal measure."
But Moshe Sharf, a vegetable merchant at the market, urged Netanyahu to take even stronger measures against the Palestinians.
"He should go to war," Sharf said. "At least if I go to war I know I could get hurt. When I come to earn a living I don't want to be attacked."