THE MIDDLE EAST: The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat yesterday launched a defiant assault on George Bush, refusing to so much as mention the American president by name, in bitter response to Wednesday's White House press conference at which Mr Bush had ruled out a "right of return" to Israel for millions of Palestinian refugees and endorsed Israeli control of West Bank settlement blocs.
Other Palestinian leaders said simply that they were "finished with America", which could no longer be considered an honest broker, and that they were now hoping the other three members of the international peace-mediating quartet - the EU, Russia and the UN - would adopt more sympathetic positions at a meeting expected in the next two weeks.
Summoning camera crews to his battered Ramallah headquarters, the agitated Mr Arafat declared that "the fanatical Israeli rulers are wrong, and so are those who support them - and you know who I mean". He insisted that his people would never give up on their demands for an independent state including "our Jerusalem" and for "the right of the refugees to return to their homeland".
Israel's "crimes", he said, "will be faced with more resistance to force Israeli occupiers and herds of settlers to leave Palestinian land".
The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Ahmed Korei, is considering resigning, along with his entire cabinet.
Mr Korei, who called Mr Bush's new stance "a catastrophe", was appointed primarily because the Bush Administration will have no direct dealings with Mr Arafat. Since the Palestinian leadership now recognises that it has nothing to gain from the Americans, Palestinian officials said, there was no longer a purpose in Mr Korei's staying in office.
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose plan to fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip and a small portion of the West Bank was so overwhelmingly endorsed by Mr Bush on Wednesday, was reported to be delighted at the scale of the Palestinian shock and horror.
Israeli reporters accompanying Mr Sharon, who headed back from Washington last night, quoted him as saying of the Palestinians: "They have a better understanding of the significance of (Bush's) letter (of guarantees to Israel) than do most Israelis. I said that we were going to deal them a lethal blow, and they were dealt a lethal blow."
Snap opinion polls in the wake of the Bush-Sharon meeting suggest that the public presidential support for the disengagement plan and for Israel's positions on settlements, future borders and refugees, will significantly boost the prime minister's chances of winning approval for his vision in a referendum among the 200,000 members of his governing Likud party on May 2nd.
Close to 60 per cent of Likud members are now backing Mr Sharon, one survey indicated, whereas previous polls have shown a tight race. Tellingly, the rival most capable of leading an effective Likud revolt, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has yet to take a public position, but is said now to be disinclined to head the anti-disengagement campaign.
Mr Sharon faxed copies of his plan, to be implemented over the coming year, to cabinet ministers yesterday. The opposition Labour party is said to be ready to help ensure he keeps a parliamentary majority if, as is anticipated, two right-wing factions leave the coalition over the pull-out.
Lebanese, Syrian and Arab League leaders shared the Palestinians' dismay. "We expect the United States to play honest broker," said an Arab League spokesman. "We accused it before of being unbalanced. Now we can't even say that. The United States has adopted Israel's position."
And there was further anger that Mr Bush's presidential challenger, John Kerry, publicly backed the administration, stating that "what's important, obviously, is the security of the state of Israel, and that's what the prime minister and the president, I think, are trying to address." However, neither Jordan nor Egypt issued particularly outspoken responses, with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak commenting on the need for Israel to "discuss" rather than "impose" change on the Palestinians.
Spokesmen for Hamas and Islamic Jihad said the lesson from Wednesday was that "resistance" rather than diplomacy, was the only way to achieve Palestinian rights, and threatened more violence. Meanwhile a Palestinian woman was arrested at the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Ariel last night carrying a 25 kg bomb in a bag.