Two armed Palestinians were killed Friday afternoon in a gunbattle with occupation troops near the village of Kahil, north of the West Bank city of Hebron, reported Haaretz.
Earlier, six Palestinian policemen were killed and seven Palestinians wounded overnight when Israeli tanks raided the self-rule village of Salfit south of the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian sources said. There were also raids on Ramallah and on Jenin, both in the West Bank.
Early Friday, some 20 Israeli tanks besieged a village north of the West Bank town of Nablus in an arrest campaign, witnesses said.
Three helicopters hovered over Assira al-Shamaliya as tanks sealed off the town, while nearly 100 soldiers raided houses in the area, the witnesses said.
The Israeli Army said 13 "suspected terrorists" were arrested and two suspected gunmen wounded when soldiers opened fire on them as they tried to flee during the raid on Assira al-Shamaliya
Nearly 1,100 people have been killed since the start of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in September 2000.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Hamas movement, was praying in a Gaza City mosque, but escaped unhurt when two missiles hit the compound Thursday night, Palestinian security sources said.
The Israeli army confirmed Friday the attacks on Gaza and the West Bank but denied the mosque was hit, saying it has "no intention of attacking or harming holy places."
The raids were the latest in an onslaught on Palestinian targets after the government deemed Arafat ineffective in quelling militant activity.
The Israeli government severed ties with the Palestinian leader late Wednesday, calling him "irrelevant." The move came after members of Hamas and a Fatah offshoot, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, ambushed a bus near Nablus Wednesday, killing 10 Jewish settlers.
Sharon took the war of words a step further Friday, pronouncing the end of Arafat in an interview with the German daily Bild.
"From now on Yasser Arafat is history," Sharon said, warning that Israeli troops could remain in Palestinian areas for a prolonged period of time "in order to maintain law and order.
"If, in talks with a new Palestinian leadership, we cannot reach a peaceful solution, the Israeli army will be in the Palestinian towns to ensure law and order.
Negotiations with the Palestinian Authority will not resume "unless a perceptible ceasefire is in place," the hardline right-winger said.
Until then Israeli troops would continue to control the Palestinian territories, he added.
Dovish Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who maintains an uneasy alliance with Sharon in a government of national unity, said "Arafat is not finished yet.
"Quite the contrary, it is possible that military action carried out against him would reinforce his position with the Palestinian people, the state of the Middle East and in Europe," he told the daily Yediot Aharonot.
"I hope Sharon undestands that," said Peres, who asserted that Arafat was "paying for his mistakes" with the wave of Israeli military strikes.
He also warned against any bid to force Arafat into exile, something being called for by the extreme right.
"If we chase Arafat out, we will face complications with the Arab world," Peres said. Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, "will break off relations with us."
Meanwhile, Washington was weighing the recall of its Middle East envoy, though it vowed to stay engaged in the crisis.
"The situation is getting worse, not better and we really cannot give up hope, we can't walk away from this," Secretary of State Colin Powell said.
The envoy, Anthony Zinni, met with Sharon in Jerusalem late Thursday to query him on his decision to sever ties with Arafat.
Powell said he had asked Zinni and US ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer to get an explanation from Sharon on the move against Arafat, who Washington said remains the legitimate leader of the Palestinians.
The State Department had no immediate comment on the meeting, but a senior official described the situation as "really discouraging" and said Zinni would likely announce early Friday whether he would continue his mission.
Neither the White House nor the State Department would comment on Israel's decision to snub Arafat, but Powell said Washington still believes Arafat represents the Palestinians, adding that he should prove his leadership by stopping the violence.
"Yasser Arafat is the elected head of the Palestinian Authority and reflects the leadership that the Palestinians wish to have," Powell said.
"He still has that authority, that mantle of leadership given to him by the Palestinian people, and we will continue to work with him."
Powell said "Arafat has a choice to make" either for peace and the preservation of his position as a credible leader or for continued violence that could unseat him.
President George W. Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, agreed, saying the United States "believes that it is incumbent on Chairman Arafat to demonstrate in actions and deeds, and not just words, that he will bring the killers to justice.
And a senior US official said "Arafat needs to lead, he needs to establish credibility to stop the attacks against him and Israel. That's the only way he is going to establish credibility as a leader.
"We are seriously questioning his willingness to take steps to end the violence," the official added.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa and Arab delegates at the United Nations, meanwhile, called for a meeting of the UN Security Council as soon as possible to try to find a way to restore peace in the Middle East.
Zinni to announce 'ideas' on ways of brokering cease-fire
Anthony Zinni is expected to announce on Saturday afternoon his ideas on ways to end the violence, as part of the American mission to broker a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel Radio reported -Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
