Israel takes hard line with Palestinians

JERUSALEM - Israel has vowed to continue its "anti-terror" campaign against the Palestinian Authority and militant groups after fresh air strikes on Palestinian targets and despite renewed US backing for Yasser Arafat.

"We will not make any compromise with terrorism," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday.

Israel decided on Thursday to cut all ties with Arafat and the Palestinian leadership after a wave of Palestinian attacks, the latest of which killed 10 Israelis in a West Bank ambush.

Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships have attacked more than a dozen Palestinian Authority installations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the attack, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding dozens of others.

The violence threatened to wreck US envoy Anthony Zinni's mission to end nearly 15 months of conflict. "The situation is getting worse, not better, and we really cannot give up hope," said US Secretary of State Colin Powell as Zinni met Sharon on Thursday. "We cannot walk away from this. The stakes are too high."

Zinni was to announce "ideas about the next steps" in his peace bid late yesterday.

Washington wants a resumption of Middle East peacemaking to shore up Arab support for its anti-terror campaign against Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Zinni would discuss Israel's decision to brand Arafat "irrelevant" and would also talk with the Palestinian leader, Powell said. "Yasser Arafat is the elected head of the Palestinian Authority and reflects the leadership that the Palestinians wish to have ... we will continue to work with him."

Powell pressed Arafat to dismantle the "terrorist organisations" behind attacks on Israel. But at the same time, he questioned the wisdom of Israeli incursions into Palestinian territory.

Overnight on Thursday, more than 10 Israeli tanks and three bulldozers entered the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in a fresh raid, Palestinian security officials said.

Israeli raids have brought tanks to within 100m of Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah and wrecked the Voice of Palestine radio station. Israel has accused Palestinian media of fomenting violence against Israelis.

Palestinians have branded Israel's moves a declaration of war. "The bombardments reveal once again the true intentions of the Sharon Government to blow up the international efforts," Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said.

At the United Nations, Palestinians demanded an urgent meeting of the Security Council to try to stop the violence. Tunisia, the only Arab country on the 15-member Security Council, introduced a draft resolution that called for a "monitoring mechanism" to protect Palestinian civilians.

But the United States, which in March vetoed a similar resolution, said its position had not changed. "The resolution, apart from all the other defects of Security Council resolutions, has the even more serious defect now of being completely disconnected from the reality on the ground," US representative James Cunningham said.

Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin said the military strikes were part of an operation "that will go on as long as the Palestinian Authority and its security forces are not taking the necessary action".

At least 768 Palestinians and 233 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September last year.

- REUTERS

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