MIDDLE EAST: As Israeli leaders met in Jerusalem yesterday to consider adopting an even more robust military response to recent Palestinian attacks - which have included a number of innovations - security forces foiled yet another attack in northern Israel.
Around sunset, a Palestinian gunman opened fire after traffic police stopped his vehicle, which they considered suspicious, near the northern town of Hadera, some 10 km from the West Bank. Police said they returned fire, killing the gunman.
A second man in the car then sped off and was killed when he blew up his vehicle near an army base several kilometres away. Three Israelis were injured in the incident, one of them seriously.
Early yesterday, Israeli helicopters launched a raid on three buildings in the West Bank city of Nablus, including the bureau of the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, who has been confined to Ramallah by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, for the last two months.
Israel said the bombardment was in retaliation for a suicide bomb attack in a West Bank settlement on Saturday night in which two Israeli teenagers were killed, and more than 20 injured.
A total of six Israelis - four of them soldiers - have been killed in recent days in Palestinian attacks that have added a new dimension to the 16-month-old conflict.
Last Thursday, Palestinians scored a victory in their battle with the Israeli army when they managed to penetrate the thick armour encasing Israel's state-of-the-art Merkava 3 tank with an 80 kg bomb which was detonated underneath the tank and killed three soldiers.
The attack on Saturday evening at the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron marked the first time since the Palestinian uprising began that a suicide attack has been carried out inside the usually highly guarded settlements.
The suicide bomber was Sadek Abdel-Hafez (20), a member of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who left behind a videotape saying he was carrying out the attack in retaliation for Israeli killings.
Meanwhile, a 25-year-old Palestinian man, who was injured in clashes with Israeli troops in Gaza on Saturday, died yesterday of his wounds.
Also on Saturday, a senior member of the militant Islamic Jihad group, Mr Nazih Abu Sabaa (30), was killed when the car he was driving blew up in the northern West Bank town of Jenin. The Palestinians accused Israel of assassinating Mr Sabaa, but Israeli military officials refused to comment.
Mr Sharon, who convened his security cabinet yesterday afternoon, is facing growing domestic criticism over his inability to deter Palestinian attacks. Far-right leaders accused the Prime Minister yesterday of not being prepared to launch an all-out assault on the Palestinian Authority, while left-wing leaders held a rally on Saturday night in which they called on the government to end the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The security cabinet, which includes leading ministers, failed to make any concrete recommendations, with the ministers divided over how to contend with the spiralling conflict.
The Housing Minister, Mr Natan Sharansky, recommended that Israeli troops should be sent into Palestinian-controlled towns to conduct house-to-house searches and to confiscate all weapons - a move he said might require re-occupying these areas "for two weeks or two months, as long as it takes".
But the Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, the leading dove in the security cabinet, said that despite the escalating violence, Israel had to continue "driving toward a diplomatic settlement that will end the conflict".
Saudi Arabia would consider normalising relations with Israel and persuading the Arab League to do the same if Israel would carry out a full withdrawal from the occupied territories, the New York Times said yesterday, quoting the Saudi crown prince.
"Full withdrawal from all the occupied territories, in accord with UN resolutions, including in Jerusalem, for full normalisation of relations," Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz told the New York Times reporter Thomas Friedman.