Arafat orders security to prevent attacks on Israel

President Yasser Arafat, under pressure to crack down on militants following a suicide bombing, yesterday ordered Palestinian security forces to foil any attempt to attack Israeli civilians.

"I have given orders to Palestinian security forces to confront and prevent any terrorist operations against Israeli civilians by any Palestinian party, parallel to confronting any aggression on Palestinian civilians from the Israeli army and Jewish settlers which we all condemn," Arafat said in a statement.

His order came after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed at least 14 people at a billiards club in Rishon Letzion, south of Tel Aviv, on Tuesday night.

Arafat urged the United States to provide support for the Palestinian security forces to enable them to carry out their duties and to ensure that Israeli forces do not target them.

"As head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority, I reiterate my commitment and participation with the United States and the international community in their war on terrorism," Arafat said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cut short a visit to the United States yesterday and vowed to hit back hard after the Palestinian suicide bombing that threatened to derail new Middle East peace efforts.

"He who rises up to kill us, we will pre-empt it and kill him first," Sharon said before leaving Washington. "Israel will continue to uproot the terror infrastructure."

He was expected to convene his security cabinet on his return later yesterday. Calls mounted in Israel for tough action, ranging from a new military offensive in the West Bank to exile for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip braced for the possibility of an armed assault after Israeli media reported that the suicide bomber was believed to have come from Gaza.

The suicide bombing initially dented hopes of a breakthrough to end an armed standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Palestinian militants have been holed up for more than five weeks, surrounded by troops and tanks.

But negotiations resumed, renewing speculation that a deal was near for the departure of civilians who are also in the church, built on the spot Christians revere as the birthplace of Jesus, and the deportation of some of the militants.

The suicide bombing was the first in Israel in nearly a month and followed a lull in which military action had given way to diplomacy following an Israeli army offensive launched in the West Bank on March 29 after earlier suicide attacks.

Sharon was meeting U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House as the bomb exploded in the town of Rishon Letzion.

"They (witnesses) noticed a stranger. He had an odd expression. He walked three to four steps inside and detonated his explosives. There was no time to get away," a police spokesman told reporters at the scene of the bombing.

The blast sheared away the outside walls of the third-floor billiard hall, exposing its wrecked interior like the inside of a doll`s house.

A suspected Palestinian suicide bomber was badly wounded a few hours later when explosives he was carrying blew up prematurely in northern Israel, Israeli security sources said. No one else was hurt.

The militant Islamic movement Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied media reports that it carried out the Rishon Letzion attack. The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, but Israel said it held Arafat responsible.

Sharon faced criticism from right-wing politicians that he wound down the offensive too soon without finishing Israel`s declared task of eliminating militants.

He also came under fresh attack for the ferocity of the offensive. The United Nations condemned it in a vote on Tuesday.

But the bombing gives him fresh ammunition in his bid to sideline Arafat, who he says is not a partner for peace.

Israel and the Palestinians are considering a US proposal for an international peace conference in the summer to bring them back to the negotiating table.

The latest violence could set back hopes of getting Arafat and Sharon to the same conference, but the Turkish government said yesterday it wanted to host such a peace conference.

Arab nations are also pushing ahead with promoting a Saudi-inspired peace plan, which involved their offering normal ties with Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Sharon favours an interim pact, short of full statehood and keeping intact many Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas.