Ariel Sharon cut short his trip to Washington on Wednesday and headed home with more resolve ­ and ammunition ­ to oust Yasser Arafat from power and, perhaps, from the Palestinian territories after a deadly suicide bombing near Tel Aviv further dimmed the prospects of peace negotiations.
The Israeli prime minister vowed a tough and prompt response to the killing of 15 people in a pool hall late Tuesday night. The bomber also perished, and 60 Israelis were wounded.
Arafat ordered his security forces to stop attacks on Israeli civilians and vowed to wage “war against terrorism” ­ his toughest message to the Islamic firebrands challenging his rule since the Israeli onslaught in the West Bank began March 29.
“I gave my orders and directions to all the Palestinian security forces to confront and prevent all terror attacks against Israeli civilians from any Palestinian side or parties and at the same time to confront any aggression or attack on Palestinian civilians, whether by Israeli soldiers or settlers, which we all condemn,” Arafat said ­ in Arabic ­ on Palestinian television.
However, Arafat said, his police were too weak to carry out his orders in the wake of Israel’s large-scale military operation aimed at crushing Palestinian militias in the West Bank. He appealed to the United States and the international community to help support his forces so they could implement his orders.
Arafat also expressed “full commitment and my readiness to participate with the US administration and the international community in their war against terrorism.”
But his words did little to soothe Israeli anger over the resurgence of human bombs amid pledges from Hamas leaders to seek revenge for the death and destruction the Israelis inflicted in their onslaught.
A new attack on Wednesday, in which a would-be suicide bomber detonated explosives at a bus stop in northern Israel, served as a reminder of the challenges both Arafat and Sharon faced if they chose to train their guns at the spiraling radicalism in both camps rather than at each other. The botched attempt in Megido, south of Haifa, came barely 12 hours after the carnage in Rishon Letsion near Tel Aviv. The 18-year-old bomber was seriously wounded but caused no harm to others.
Tuesday’s was the first suicide bombing against the Israelis since a young woman blew herself up in a Jerusalem market on April 12, killing six other people.
The Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, but no one took credit for Wednesday’s attempt.
However, the targeting of the hitherto untouched town of Rishon Letsion showed that Palestinian radicals were still capable of striking at the very heart of Israel, irrespective of the retribution. In claiming the attack Tuesday night, the group threatened more bloodshed.
“We are going to attack within this week and declare holy war against all the Israelis for what happened last month in the Jenin camp by the Israeli Army,” an anonymous member of the group told news agencies based in the Palestinian territories.
Hamas’ spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said the group would not be cowed by Israeli threats, or Arafat’s denunciation.
“When they harm and hurt Palestinian civilians, their civilians will be harmed,” he said. “We are trying to prove another thing: that the operation … in the West Bank has failed and will not bring them security.”
Sharon learned of the attack during a White House meeting with US President George W. Bush. He cut short his trip and promised retaliation, describing the bombing as “proof of the true intentions of the person leading the Palestinian Authority” and blaming Arafat without mentioning him by name.
“This is not the kind of incident to which we can fail to
react harshly,” Sharon stated
at a televised news conference before leaving Washington.
A senior Israeli official on Sharon’s flight back to Israel  said the United States now shares Israel’s belief that the Palestinian Authority must rebuild itself with new leadership before starting political talks with the Jewish state.
“The American position is clear; the current structure of the Palestinian leadership does not allow for the opening of political negotiations,” the official claimed, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.
US officials said there was more emphasis on a “restructuring” of the Palestinian Authority but offered no endorsement of Sharon’s inclination to sideline his old nemesis.
ing Palestinian security forces and crafting a constitution ­ which he said were necessary to create a Palestinian state. He said he would send CIA director George Tenet back to the region “to help design the construction of a security force, a unified security force that will be transparent and held accountable.”
During his appearance with Sharon, Bush again said he had been “disappointed in Chairman Arafat. I think he’s let the Palestinian people down. I think he’s had an opportunity to lead to peace and he hasn’t done so.”
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the focus now should be on moving forward.
Asked if the US shared Sharon’s views on removing Arafat, Powell said: “We talked about the need to see reform … but we didn’t get into any detailed discussions of what might be a precondition for something else. Yesterday’s events were troubling, and every time one of these events happen, it takes us off a course that we were on.”
King Abdullah of Jordan, who was also in Washington for talks with Bush, said that the suicide bombing should not deflect diplomatic efforts.
“If we are going to let suicide bombers or extremists win the day, that means there is no hope for any of us,” he told the Reuters news agency. “So, as awful as these setbacks are, we have to continue to move forward and we have to find a solution which I think is attainable in the near future and we just have to have the courage to move forward.”
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rallied behind Arafat, saying that if Israel was serious about peace, it must deal with him. But Mubarak did not comment on Tuesday’s bombing.
Significantly, however, one of the Palestinians’ staunchest backers, the UAE, criticized the bombing saying such acts were counterproductive.
In Damascus, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said a proposed regional peace conference would be “positive” if it were in harmony with the goals of an Arab peace initiative offering Israel normal relations in exchange for withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in 1967.  He was expected to brief Arab foreign ministers on Saudi-US talks and the kingdom’s diplomatic efforts in Cairo on Thursday.
Aid groups said the Palestinian Authority must collect hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild the West Bank even as Western donors hear Israeli charges that it siphons funds to finance terror attacks. A top UN representative said Israel’s five-week campaign caused $350 million in damages to an already impoverished West Bank. World Bank officials said chances of recovery were further hurt by a draconian ban on Palestinians’ right to travel in the territories.
But the onslaught continued. An Israeli Army unit Wednesday stormed several hundred meters into Palestinian territory in Hebron in the West Bank, withdrawing after blowing up several empty stores being used as cover by fighters, witnesses said.
And for more bad news, a nearly sealed deal to end the standoff at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity stumbled over a new obstacle, with no country agreeing to host Palestinian gunmen Israel wants deported ­ not even Jordan, the West Bank’s immediate neighbor.

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