Ireland sees the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Yasser Arafat, as the "indispensable partner for dialogue" in the Middle East crisis, the Minister for Foreign Affairs told the Dail.

Mr Cowen said "the alternative to Arafat would be altogether worse, either Hamas or a vacuum". He alone had the stature among Palestinians to end violence and negotiate a last peace with Israel.

Speaking during a debate on the crisis the Minister said there was a "duality of opinion" in the Israeli government and "to what extent we can overcome that is another part of the jigsaw that must be put in place".

The Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, had assured him Israel was not seeking to topple President Arafat, but Prime Minister Sharon did not see him as a negotiating partner any longer. "This is precisely the dilemma." He said that Mr Arafat "cannot do everything but, equally, he cannot do nothing". He added that whether the Israelis had planned to lower his status or not among his people, "it is the effect".

The Authority had to demonstrate its commitment to facing down the men of violence and had to arrest those responsible for terrorist acts and keep them in custody. "We also believe that the sustained attacks by Israel on the PA, its security forces and its facilities are misguided and will have the opposite effect to the one intended." Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, said the Israeli decision could lead only to even greater disaster. Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Michael D. Higgins said it was clear that the example of the victory of "militarism over diplomacy" elsewhere was encouraging a move to a military response to bring a resolution.