Rocked by the weekend killings of 25 civilians in a devastating spate of attacks by Islamic fundamentalists, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cut short a visit to the United States and flew back to Israel last night, as his right-wing government colleagues urged him to declare war on Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Tension increased further last night when Israeli soldiers shot dead four Palestinians in a gun battle near the West Bank city of Jenin. Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an army patrol, and the troops returned fire killing the four gunmen, an Israeli military source said. Mr Sharon is to convene an emergency meeting of his full cabinet on his return from Washington, a senior Israeli official said last night.
At a meeting in the White House yesterday afternoon, President Bush was said to have asked Mr Sharon to give Mr Arafat a "last chance" and to have promised unprecedented American pressure on the Palestinian Authority to crack down on the militants. In the interim, amid warnings of yet more attacks, Israel tightened a military blockade around some West Bank cities.
Mr Arafat condemned the attacks - which included a double suicide bombing in downtown Jerusalem on Saturday which killed 10 Israelis and two bombers, and another suicide blast on a bus in Haifa which claimed the lives of 15 Israelis and one bomber yesterday.
Declaring a state of emergency in Palestinian areas, Mr Arafat also said that Hamas and other extremist groups that defied his ceasefire call would be banned.
However, Israeli leaders - including such relative moderates as the Foreign Minister Shimon Peres - said they attached little confidence to pledges by aides to Mr Arafat to make "hundreds of arrests." Indeed Mr Peres reportedly told foreign diplomats last night that Israel's relations with the Authority had reached "the point of no return," and that Mr Arafat's professed arrests were "a farce". Critically, the Bush Administration seems increasingly ready to endorse the Israeli assertion that Mr Arafat bears at least indirect responsibility for the ongoing attacks.
Shortly before his meeting with Mr Sharon, Mr Bush called on Mr Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to "demonstrate through their actions, and not merely their words, their commitment to fight terror".
Secretary of State Gen Colin Powell said that he had told Mr Arafat by telephone that it was "time for him to act . . . a moment of truth for him." Describing the attacks as revenge for last month's killing by Israel of its West Bank commander, Hamas took responsibility for the Saturday night blasts in Jerusalem - the 10 Israelis killed were aged between 14 and 20. More than 100 people were injured. The bombings turned the city centre into a battlefield, with blood spattered across the pavements and bodies hastily covered with blankets and sheeting.
Palestinian police yesterday arrested at least 75 militants from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups following the deadly suicide attacks in Israel, a Palestinian security source told AFP.