Sunday, 20 May, 2001, 08:44 GMT 09:44 UK

Israeli PM defiant over air raids

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened to throw Israel's full military arsenal against the Palestinians, despite international condemnation of his air strikes on West Bank towns.

Ariel Sharon repeated his pledge that the security of Israelis was his top priority.

"We will do everything necessary and use everything we have to protect Israeli citizens," Mr Sharon was quoted as saying in an interview with the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

Mr Sharon also told Israel radio he would be willing to enter into political negotiations only if what he described as "Palestinian terrorism" was halted.

BBC Jerusalem correspondent Hilary Andersson says there have been rumblings of disapproval within Mr Sharon's cabinet about the decision to use F16 fighter planes to bomb Palestinian areas.

Shimon Peres, Israel's foreign minister, has been quoted as saying that this was the worst situation since the 1948 war of independence.

Arab reaction

The air raids - in response to a Hamas suicide bomb attack on Israeli shoppers - prompted the Arab League to take its strongest practical measures against Israel since the start of the intifada.

Foreign ministers meeting in Cairo recommended breaking off political contacts with Israel because of the way it retaliated against the suicide bombing.

Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said peace proposals put forward by Egypt and Jordan could not be discussed while Israel continued its attacks against the Palestinians.

And he called for international action against Israel which on Friday used bomber aircraft for the first time since 1967 against Palestinian towns.

The bombings followed a suicide attack by a Palestinian on a crowded Israeli shopping centre at Netanya earlier on Friday.

Only the Palestinian Authority is to be exempted from the recommended ban on contacts with Israel, but Egypt and Jordan, which have peace treaties with the Jewish state, would no longer be able to receive Israeli envoys, nor will they be sending their ambassadors back to Tel Aviv in the near future.

Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Mr Moussa, who has been active in negotiating with Israel, said: "Our intention is not to talk or fall into the trap of talking about peace proposals while we see that the Israeli Government does not really mean it."

Strong language

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the Arab League foreign ministers' statement as "a nonsense," the French news agency AFP reported.

And in some of the strongest language used in this most recent conflict, Israel's Communication Minister, Reuven Rivlin, said his country was at war.

The Arab League ministers, meeting in Cairo, also adopted a resolution calling for an emergency meeting at the United Nations in order to secure some form of international protection for the Palestinians.

The United States has already vetoed an earlier proposal to send an international protection force to the Palestinian territories.

Bomber attacks

On Saturday, Israeli helicopter gunships carried out further attacks on Palestinian security offices in the West Bank, despite international calls for restraint.

Buildings were rocketed in the towns of Tulkarm and Jenin, wounding at least 30 people, and in separate incidents, three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops.

Israeli bomber aircraft attacked Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza on Friday, killing at least 12 people.

Six Israelis had been killed by the suicide bomber at a crowded shopping centre in the coastal Israeli town of Netanya a few hours before.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 2001