Israel Arab charged for club bomb

The blast has failed to throw tentative peace moves off course

An Israeli Arab has been charged with murder for his role in a suicide bomb attack that killed five Israelis at a Tel Aviv night club last month.

Ashraf Qaisi reportedly confessed to helping smuggle the bomber from the West Bank using his Israeli nationality and Israeli-licensed car.

He also confessed to buying insecticide used to make explosives, Israeli security sources are quoted as saying.

Mr Qaisi was detained a day after the bombing on 25 February.

The indictment against him was published after the authorities lifted a ban on reporting his arrest.

Correspondents say the bombing stalled momentum in tentative peace moves following an Israeli-Palestinian summit. But a truce has largely held since then with Israeli forces pulling back forces from occupied areas of the West Bank.

Israelis of Palestinian origin - known as Israeli Arabs - comprise about 20% of Israel's population.

They broadly support the Palestinians in the occupied territories, but have avoided in the violence that has raged since 2000.