Israel attacks Arafat's base in its own 'war on terrorism'

As Israel's Ariel Sharon declared a new and more severe war on the Palestinians, his F-16 jets and combat helicopters were already launching a wave of punishing retaliatory attacks inside the occupied territories last night.

Enraged by three Hamas suicide bomb attacks that killed 28 people and plunged the Middle East into the worst crisis for a year, the Israeli Prime Minister declared a "war on terror", advancing his long campaign to align the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the US campaign against Osama bin Laden.

Back from the United States, where he received backing from President George Bush to take whatever military measures he saw fit, Mr Sharon told the nation in a televised address that Israel would respond with "all means at its disposal".

He said: "Just as the United States acts in its battle against world terror, under the brave leadership of President Bush, just as it acts with all its strength, so shall we do."

Last night Israel said the Palestinian Authority was a "terror-supporting entity", opening the way for harsher retaliation.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up simultaneously in Jerusalem late on Saturday, shortly followed by a car bomb, and a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in Haifa fewer than 12 hours later.

Mr Sharon faces pressure from colleagues further to the right to topple the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, whom he repeatedly blames for the attacks. But he also stressed the importance of maintaining his government of national unity. The Labour components of his coalition ­ notably the Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, and the Defence Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, oppose destroying Mr Arafat and his Palestinian Authority.

Even before the cabinet met, the Israeli armed forces were in action. Combat helicopters blasted missiles into aircraft hangars, destroying three of Mr Arafat's helicopters close to his beachside headquarters in Gaza, and his landing pad. Mr Arafat was in the West Bank town of Ramallah at the time.

Though clearly meant as a message to the globe-trotting Palestinian leader that his rule could be toppled if he does not bow to Israel's demands, the attacks also took a human toll. Palestinian officials said 17 people were injured. After the strikes, which sent terrified people fleeing in Gaza as the skies filled with large columns of black smoke, an Israeli official said: "There will be more serious things to come."

Shortly afterwards, Israeli F-16 warplanes fired missiles at a police base and offices of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank town of Jenin ­ aiming at the very officials whom Israel and the US are now pressing to arrest the militants mounting attacks against civilians inside Israel.

In Bethlehem, a Palestinian was killed and two others injured in an unexplained explosion in a four-storey building.

Late last night, the Israeli army entered West Bank cities and troops advanced to within 200 metres of Mr Arafat's compound in Ramallah, Palestinian security sources said. Meanwhile, Israeli tanks entered Gaza airport, firing heavy machine-guns and tearing up the runway with bulldozers.

Previous Israeli air strikes have hardened militant trends within the Palestinian security apparatus, and have clearly failed to stop suicide attacks, but that has not deterred Israel from continuing with its policy.

There was a furious reaction from Palestinian officials. Saeb Erekat, a veteran peace negotiator, accused Israel of "making it impossible for those of us who want to make peace". The official also called on the US, whose ineffective diplomacy is increasing frustration in the region, to intervene.

Reacting to Mr Sharon's speech, Muhammad Sbeih, the Palestinian representative to the Arab League, told Abu Dhabi television: "The situation is very dangerous. Sharon is escaping from the peace process ... He is adding a new black page to his black record."

The assaults went ahead despite mass arrests by Palestinian officials, who have strongly condemned the suicide bombings and declared a state of emergency. Officials said they had detained 110 people in the West Bank and Gaza, despite hostility from the Palestinian public, many of whom regard the suicide bombings as a justified response to a year-long Israeli blockade, scores of assassinations, and the killing of 800 people, many of them unarmed non-combatants.

Palestinians yesterday were predicting a civil war if Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority attempted seriously to break up Hamas, as Israel demands.

The latest grotesque attacks on Israeli civilians have been almost universally condemned. But the Bush administration has made it clear that the EU, despite criticism of American diplomacy, should not interfere with its mediating efforts.