Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned he would deploy as much military might as necessary against the Palestinians, amid scathing domestic criticism of his use of warplanes to retaliate for a suicide bombing.
"We will do everything necessary and use everything we have to protect Israeli citizens," Sharon was quoted by Reuters as saying in an interview with Israel's largest daily, Yedioth Ahronoth.
The right-wing leader convened his security cabinet to discuss the latest escalation in violence in an eight-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence.
Israeli Minister of Labor and Social affairs, Shlomo Benizri, said that he wholeheartedly supported the military action, but that he regretted the fact that the decision was made without consulting with the entire defense cabinet, said Haaretz newspaper.
However, he harshly criticized Israel's policy of explanation, and said that in spite of the attack in which 5 Israelis were killed, the "Palestinians came out on top," said Haaretz newspaper.
Sharon, meanwhile, said that he would be ready to give in on political issues, but not security ones.
According to Sharon, the public opinion in the United States is influenced by the public opinion in Israel, thus the stance in Israel must be unified.
MUBARAK: WORLD SHOULD PRESS ISRAEL TO STOP VIOLENCE
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak called on the international community on Sunday to persuade Israel to halt mounting attacks against Palestinian targets, said Reuters.
"I sent a letter yesterday to the American President (George W. Bush)...and to many countries (to help end Israeli attacks)...These countries should warn Israel of the dangers of the path it is taking," Mubarak told reporters.
"If countries only make statements it will not bring results," he added.
ISRAEL DENIES NAVY BOMBARDED GAZA
The Israeli army denied Sunday Palestinian reports that the its navy warships have shelled PA targets in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel's Army Radio said, cited by The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, has said that Israeli barges opened heavy machineguns fire at a Palestinian navy police post in the Sudaniya area near Gaza city.
In Rafah, Israeli troops entered As-Salam neighborhood and fired at civilian houses, said WAFA, reporting no injuries.
In another incident, the Post said that Israeli soldiers defused a bomb found alongside the northern end of the security fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip earlier in the day.
ISRAEL ASKS US TO PRESSURE ARAFAT; ARABS RECOMMEND SUSPENDING CONTACTS WITH ISRAEL
Israel appealed Saturday to the United States to intercede with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to halt the escalating situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as Arab foreign ministers recommended severing political contacts with the Jewish state.
Israel's Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer asked his US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld and the US administration "to do all they could to persuade Arafat to stop the violence", Ben-Eliezer's spokesman said, cited by Reuters.
At least 441 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 87 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began.
Ben-Eliezer and Rumsfeld spoke by phone on Saturday after 15 Palestinians and seven Israelis were killed in two days of bloodshed, air raids and gunfire.
Two rounds of Israeli air raids moved Arab foreign ministers meeting in Egypt on Saturday to recommend the suspension of political contacts with the Israeli government until it halted its military assaults against the Palestinians.
Arafat said the ministers had expressed solidarity with their Palestinian brethren.
"[Our] Arab brothers presented a strong and clear stand with the Palestinian brothers in this crisis," he told reporters in his Gaza office after returning from Egypt.
In another development, Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers traded fire on Saturday near the West Bank towns of Qalqilya, Ramallah, Hebron and Beit Jala.
No injuries were reported.
The Israeli army said a similar exchange erupted later when three grenades were thrown at an army outpost between the Egyptian border and the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip refugee camp of Rafah, said Haaretz.
It said a roadside bomb was then detonated near an army armored vehicle, though no one was hurt.
Palestinian witnesses said their side did not fire, but Arafat's Fateh group took responsibility for the blast.
"This is war, my friends, this is war," Israeli Minister of Communications Reuven Rivlin told Reuters in Jerusalem - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
