Israeli officials were skeptical at the PA's reported crackdown on terror organizations. Acting under intense international pressure, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat declared a state of emergency in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. More than 90 militants were reportedly arrested, including senior Hamas leaders Ismail Abu Shanab and Ismail Haniya. Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was placed under house arrest.

Two prominent Hamas officials summoned, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mahmoud al-Azhar, refused to turn themselves in, Israel Radio reported. Military analysts feared the high profile arrests were only temporary, and that the Palestinian Authority's "revolving door" policy would soon allow for the militants' release.

West Bank Preventive Security Service chief Jibril Rajoub

This is Arafat's "moment of truth" - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell

said yesterday that those involved in the Jerusalem and Haifa bombings "would pay the price." The Palestinians announced that they had outlawed any group or organization "that serves the goals of the extremist forces in Israel." The Palestinian leadership entrusted its "security apparatus with pursuing and detaining those who plan and execute attacks so that they can face justice," an official statement said.

But Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer charged that "Arafat continues to do nothing. He has yet to arrest a single serious terrorist connected to the attacks of the last week." Ben-Eliezer said that Arafat was just showing that he was making efforts, but was "far from taking actions that could be considered a war on terror."

Intense American and international pressure on Arafat
Arafat's decision to crack down on the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations was due to intense American and international pressure. Arafat was reportedly given a deadline to show that he had taken serious measures. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that this was Arafat's "moment of truth." Powell said it was imperative that Arafat "not just pick up the perpetrators'' of the recent terror attacks, but also "take action to make sure that there were not other perpetrators in these organizations getting ready to commit further acts.''

White House spokesman Sean McCormack said the focus was on Arafat and a need for action by him against terrorist groups "if he is to be a leader."

Prior to his meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the White House on Sunday, President George W. Bush said, "Chairman Arafat must do everything in his power to find those who murdered innocent Israelis and bring them to justice." Bush reportedly promised Sharon that if Arafat did not take serious measures to prevent future terror attacks, he would move to have Congress list the PLO as a terrorist organization, effectively returning Arafat to the status he held in 1988, Maariv reported.

Sharon reportedly told Bush that Israel was at war. "We will act until the terror organizations no longer exist," he said.

Neither Bush nor Powell called on Israel to exercise restraint in military responses to the recent Palestinian terror attacks, as the administration had done frequently in the past. "We're not going to tell the prime minister, who has been freely elected by his people to defend his nation what he [should do],'' Powell said.

Even so, the Bush administration reportedly favors continuing its campaign of massive pressure calling on Arafat to combat terror. Palestinian officials called on Israel for "seven days of grace" in order to deal with the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, Maariv reported.

"We no longer expect Arafat to fight terror," a senior official in Sharon's staff told ynet. "Israel has reached the conclusion that our war against terror so far has not been enough, and therefore we must add additional types of action," the official said.

"Arafat never stood by his word," the official added, describing Arafat's rule as a "reign of lies" and a "coalition of terror."

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