Israeli Prime Minister Mr ArielSharon gave approval this evening for wide-ranging strikesagainst Palestinian militants in response to a suicide bombingthat killed 20 people in Jerusalem, security sources said.
The army operations, which a senior source said would beginas early as tonight and last several days, could dashhopes for re-establishing a truce seen as crucial to an alreadytroubled US-led peace plan.
The source said the military plan would go ahead regardlessof Palestinian Prime Minister Mr Mahmoud Abbas's order for securityservices to hunt down and arrest militants behind lastnight's bus bombing.
Mr Abbas, who also cut off contact with Islamic militantleaders after the bombing, acted after Israel shelved itsplanned handover of occupied cities, froze high-level talks andreimposed a clampdown on the West Bank and Gaza.
The White House demanded that the Palestinian Authoritycrack down on militant groups and said Israel had the right todefend itself following the bombing.
US President George W. Bush conveyed that message directlyto Mr Sharon in a phone call from his Crawford, Texas ranch, WhiteHouse spokesman Mr Scott McClellan told reporters.
The Israeli security source said the attack plan, which wasexpected to receive final approval from Mr Sharon's cabinet tonight, would target the main militant groups with arrests, raids and "targeted killings".
He said the strikes would hit Hamas, Islamic Jihad and theal-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, groups that declared a three-monthceasefire on June 29th under pressure from the reformistPalestinian prime minister to prop up the "road map" peace plan.
"Israel will take action as retaliation against the terrororganisations," the source said. "We cannot trust thePalestinian Authority to do the job."
But Israeli officials also indicated military action wouldbe carried out in a way they said would avoid causing thecollapse of the peace plan.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli plans. "AnyIsraeli reaction will undermine our work and will lead us all tomore deterioration of the situation," Palestinian InformationMinister Mr Nabil Amr said.