Israel yesterday suspended its military strikes on installations of the Palestinian Authority, and the Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, said he had given the authority's President, Mr Yasser Arafat, 12 hours to arrest the 36 men regarded by Israel as its most dangerous enemies.
Underlining the continuing tension here, an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber blew himself up in central Jerusalem yesterday morning, injuring seven Israelis. His severed head flew through the open window of a bedroom in an adjacent hotel.
Israel Television reported last night that two further Palestinian suicide bombers were on the loose somewhere inside the country.
With the tacit support of the Bush administration, Israel on Monday and Tuesday had blown up Palestinian police and security offices in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as several symbols of Mr Arafat's administration - including his helicopters and the runway at Gaza airport - after designating the Palestinian Authority an "entity that supports terrorism". The assault, which appeared designed to bring down Mr Arafat, followed the killings of 25 Israelis in three Hamas suicide bombings at the weekend.
However, Mr Arafat yesterday telephoned Mr Peres, and complained that he could hardly meet Israel's demand that he arrest leading Hamas militants and other extremists while under sustained Israeli attack. Mr Peres said he responded by granting Mr Arafat a 12-hour breathing space to act. He said he reminded Mr Arafat that he had been given an Israeli list of the 36 names "at the forefront of the terrorism" and that he "strongly advised" the Palestinian leader to jail them. Mr. Peres said that, after consulting with the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, he also assured Mr Arafat that he could safely move his forces around the West Bank to carry out the arrests.
Mr Arafat claimed to have arrested well over 100 Islamic militants since the weekend. Mr Peres responded that such numbers meant nothing, since the key militants were still at large. It is understood that Bush administration officials have been maintaining contact with Mr Arafat, seeking details on who had been arrested and the progress of any investigations. The American would-be peace envoy, Mr Anthony Zinni, who had been considering aborting his mission, has now scheduled new meetings with both sides and is staying in the region.
Mr Bush has said that Mr Arafat needs to "aggressively rout out those who would derail the peace process by murdering innocent Israelis, innocent women, innocent children". Britain's Prime Minister, Mr Blair, echoed the call. President Chirac, took a much tougher line on Israel, condemning the bombings but also blaming Israel In interviews yesterday, Mr Arafat said he believed that Mr Sharon had decided to oust him and bring down the authority. Mr Sharon, for his part, was quoted as having told his ministerial colleagues: "I promised Bush I wouldn't touch Arafat, but I can get close to him." Mr Peres appears to have acted without Mr Sharon's approval in granting Mr Arafat the 12-hour breathing space; aides to the prime minister said last night that military operations had been suspended anyway because of bad weather. And Mr Peres has made clear that, while he shares the widespread disillusion in government with Mr Arafat, he regards toppling the Arafat regime as prejudicial to Israeli interests. Nevertheless, after consulting with other leaders of his party yesterday, the Foreign Minister indicated that Labour, at least for now, would not be bolting the "unity" coalition with Mr Sharon's Likud.
Hundreds of Palestinians turned out early today to protest against the house arrest imposed on Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, by the Palestinian Authority.