Mr Yasser Arafat last night placed the Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, under house arrest, after a Hamas suicide attack in the Gaza Strip tried to destroy the fragile new Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
The bombing in the Gaza Strip was targeted at a bus transporting children to school. The suicide bomber, driving a car packed with explosives, accelerated towards the bus, but was intercepted by an Israeli army jeep. The car and jeep were reduced to twisted metal, killing a 19-year-old soldier and the bomber, seriously wounding a second soldier and slightly wounding soldiers, passers-by and some children on the bus.
Israeli soldiers then opened fire on Palestinians fleeing the scene, apparently suspecting them of involvement. Palestinian policemen returned fire but no one in uniform was injured, and both sides later played down the incident.
The attack was the first suicide bombing in more than a year, and was clearly intended to prevent the implementation of the peace agreement signed by Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mr Arafat last weekend. But Mr Netanyahu did not rise to the Hamas bait. Instead, he telephoned Mr Arafat and demanded the major crackdown on Hamas militants prescribed in the Wye Summit deal.
Condemning the attack, Mr Arafat ordered his security apparatus to arrest Hamas militants, 12 of whom were reported to be in detention last night. An official statement said Sheikh Yassin was put under house arrest, as his recent remarks - advocating continued violence against Israeli targets - undermined Palestinian national interests. Mr Arafat is clearly concerned that, if the violence goes on, Mr Netanyahu will delay the handover of 13 per cent of the West Bank to Palestinian control in the next three months.
On Wednesday night, critics of Mr Netanyahu in his own Likud party castigated him at a Tel Aviv gathering. Mr Beni Begin, son of the late Likud prime minister Menachem Begin, lamented that Mr Netanyahu, in agreeing to relinquish West Bank land to Mr Arafat, had abandoned traditional party principles. Another critic, Mr Uzi Landau, intimated he might stage a leadership bid.
But the choreographed party gathering shouted its support for Mr Netanyahu and the deal. And a similar vote is expected on Monday, when the agreement goes to his cabinet.