Setting the scene for further violence, Palestinian leaders yesterday rejected an Israeli demand for the arrests of seven alleged intifada leaders, whom Israel may presumably now try to kill.
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected a plea from his own Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, to offer "diplomatic incentives" to the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, to halt the escalating confrontation.
In the starkest challenge yet to Mr Arafat's regime, meanwhile, his own West Bank Fatah leader, Mr Marwan Barghouti, called for the establishment of a Palestinian "unity" government to include Hamas militants.
Israel's Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said security forces intercepted a Palestinian suicide bomber "by chance". He said the alleged bomber had been recruited by Mr Omar al-Madiri, whom Israel assassinated in Tulkarm on Sunday.
Mr al-Madiri, a leading Hamas militant, was buried after a frenzied funeral procession through Tulkarm. Hundreds of Israelis later attended the funeral of a pregnant 40-year-old mother of five, Ms Tehiya Bloomberg, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Karmei Shomron, who was shot dead in a drive-by shooting on Sunday. Her husband and a daughter were badly hurt in the attack, for which Mr Barghouti's Fatah claimed responsibility.
Israeli politicians chorused their defence of what they call the policy of "targeted strikes" - which has been roundly denounced even by America. "If we know there are terrorists on their way to carry out murderous acts, our job is to catch them, and if we can't catch them, then to kill them," said one minister, Mr Danny Naveh.
Such sentiments appeared to confirm the sense that Israel intends to strike against the seven alleged key Islamic militants, whom it named on Sunday.
Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, the PA's Information Minister, said that, before demanding that the PA make arrests, "The Israeli government should arrest 50 persons . . . armed settlers."
Mr Barghouti issued his call for a Palestinian unity government at a press briefing in Ramallah. Mr Barghouti, who claims that Israel attempted to assassinate him over the weekend, also said that Sunday's shooting by a Palestinian gunman, in which eight soldiers and two civilians were hurt in Tel Aviv, underlined that no place can be restricted from the Palestinians as long as the Israelis do not respect Palestinian sovereignty.
Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians in a clash in the West Bank town of Hebron yesterday, witnesses and hospital officials said last night.