MIDDLE EAST: Utterly unexpected, and extraordinarily far-reaching, President Bush's White House speech on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis left both sides completely shell-shocked last night.
But the initial reaction was rejection: Rejection by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, of Mr Bush's demand that he now order his troops to reverse their West Bank incursions and ultimately put an end to the entire occupation of the territories.
And rejection by Palestinian leaders of Mr Bush's assertion that the Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat, had missed his opportunities and betrayed his people, and that a new, responsible leadership would have to step forward, to genuinely renouce and fight terrorism.
Formally, aides to both Mr Sharon and Mr Arafat had the common sense to announce that they would be pleased in principle to co-operate with the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, expected to arrive in the middle of next week . In a first sign of US pressure having its impact, furthermore, Mr Sharon finally agreed to sanction a meeting between the hitherto impotent US envoy, Gen Anthony Zinni and Mr Arafat, besieged for a week in his devastated Ramallah headquarters.
Earlier in the day, Mr Sharon had brushed aside a request by an EU delegation to breach Mr Arafat's isolation. The would-be peacemakers, led by the EU foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, and the Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr Josep Pique, angrily cancelled their own scheduled meeting with Mr Sharon, muttered bitterly about the "terrible mistakes" the Sharon government was making, and headed home.
The most hysterical response to the Bush address came from Mr Hassan Asfour, a Palestinian cabinet minister, who accused the US president of "effectively sanctioning Mr Arafat's murder." Mr Asfour demanded that Middle East heads of state immediately tell Mr Bush to withdraw his comments about Mr Arafat having betrayed the interests of the Palestinian people, or risk "setting the region alight."
Slightly more restrained was the Palestinian cabinet secretary, Mr Ahmed Abdel Rahman, who suggested that if Mr Powell's mission was to end the Israeli occupation, he would be welcomed, but if he were to pursue a ceasefire along the lines Gen Zinni had followed, he would be wasting his time.
The Israeli response was more measured. Mr Silvan Shalom, the deputy prime minister, said Israel would pull back its forces if Mr Powell could mediate a ceasefire and garner a credible Palestinian commitment "to fight terrorism". Until such time, aides to Mr Sharon made clear, the military incursion would continue. Indeed, Israeli sources said last night it would now gather pace - to "beat the deadline" of Mr Powell's arrival.
Israeli political and military sources emphasised the fact that the president had not specified "an immediate" military pullback, and had spoken instead of the need for Israel to "begin the withdrawal from those cities it has recently occupied." Day seven of the onslaught saw the heaviest fighting to date - centred on the West Bank cities of Jenin and Nablus. After two solid days of fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin's refugee camp - home to 18,000 Palestinians and a stronghold of the Islamic Jihad movement - Israeli troops had taken control of about a third of the camp. Six Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were reported killed during the fighting, and two more Palestinians were killed in Nablus. There were also heavy clashes in Hebron, where an Israeli soldier was killed, the continuing standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, and further exchanges of fire across the Lebanon-Israel border.
With Israeli forces now fully controlling or surrounding all major Palestinian population centres, Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority has essentially ceased to function. Before Mr Bush spoke, the Israeli army's chief of staff, Gen Shaul Mofaz, had spoken of needing "a minimum of four weeks. and perhaps another four. to complete" what Israel has termed its assault on the Palestinian terror infrastructure.
Gen Mofaz also declared that the army wanted Mr Arafat "sent away" since there was "absolutely no prospect" of making peace with him. Gen Mofaz cited new documents seized from Mr Arafat's headquarters, which he said showed Mr Arafat's signing off on payments of $2,500 last December for Raed Karmi, a Fatah gunman who publicly acknowledged murdering two Israeli civilians in a West Bank café and was subsequently killed by Israel, and other payments in January to men alleged by Israel to have orchestrated suicide bombings and other attacks.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian woman received the kidneys of an Israeli victim of a suicide attack in a transplant operation yesterday.
Mr Zeev Vidor died of his wounds a week after the attack by a Palestinian suicide bomber at a hotel in Netanya as Israelis sat down for a traditional Passover meal. His family allowed his organs to be donated and the recipients included Ms Aisha Abu Said (54), who lives in the Jerusalem suburb of Shuafat.