The IDF suspended military operations against the Palestinian Authority, but defense sources say the offensive is not yet over. The lull gave PA Chairman Arafat breathing space to show he was taking steps to fight terror. Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres issued Arafat a twelve-hour ultimatum to arrest wanted terrorists, giving the Palestinians a "last chance" before further Israeli actions.

"I don't know about any 12 hours," an official in the Prime Minister's Office said. "There has been a lull in the military operation activity because of operational reasons, and to give Arafat time to start taking real steps." The difficult weather conditions of the last two days have been mentioned as a possible operational reason.

IDF troops remain positioned in Palestinian-controlled

"I strongly recommend that you put these [terrorist leaders] in jail" - FM Shimon Peres to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat

territory in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and near Tulkarm. Senior IDF officers said that Arafat had been given a "timeout" as a result of the arrests Palestinian security forces began to make in the West Bank, Maariv reported. But defense officials told the Jerusalem Post that they were unaware of any formal decision to halt the IDF offensive against Palestinian terrorism for any limited period of time.

On Wednesday a suicide bomber killed himself and injured eight Israelis when his bomb detonated, apparently prematurely, outside the David's Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem. There were very few shooting incidents reported, though gunfire at Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood resumed in the evening, apparently as a response by local Tanzim leaders to arrests made by Palestinian security forces nearby.

West Bank Preventive Security Chief Jibril Rajoub sent his forces to Bethlehem to arrest Yihye Dahamse, a Fatah member suspected of terror activity. Palestinian security forces said they arrested 22 militants Wednesday around the West Bank and Gaza, bringing the total they report apprehending to 172 since the weekend. But Israeli military officials dismissed many of the arrests as meaningless, saying the suspects are mostly low-level operatives and not top wanted terror planners.

In Gaza, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was placed under house arrest. Yassin, 65 and wheelchair-bound, was also reportedly prevented from using his telephone. Thousands of Hamas supporters, some of them armed, gathered outside Yassin's home demanding his release. Some threw stones at Palestinian security forces stationed outside the building. Four people, including a police officer, were reportedly injured in the ensuing clashes between the police and demonstrators.

Palestinian security forces reportedly uncovered overnight a Hamas-run laboratory for making terror bombs in Nablus, Army Radio reported. A truck found outside the facility was filled with explosives intended for distribution to terrorists located in other Palestinian-controlled areas

Peres to Arafat: You will determine how we relate to PA
On Wednesday, just one day after the Israeli government had declared the PA a "terror-supporting entity," Peres spoke with Arafat in two telephone conversations, giving him an additional chance, though limited, to show Israel that he was fighting terror.

Peres said he told Arafat, "Things depend now on you and only upon you. In the coming 12 hours, you will determine how the Palestinian Authority is regarded. We are giving you authority; we are giving you a list of 36 people who, as we know, are terrorist leaders. And I strongly recommend that you put them in jail."

In the phone call, Arafat reportedly asked Israel to stop its attacks on the Palestinian Authority and complained that closures and blockades were preventing members of the Palestinian security forces from making arrests in the West Bank. Peres said that he later discussed the issue of Palestinian mobility with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who agreed to freer movement to enable additional arrests, Yediot Aharonot reported.

"We will continue our efforts to finish these groups [Hamas and Islamic Jihad]... but it is not fair to give us a 12-hour ultimatum," said Palestinian Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nabil Amr. "It is not practical to ask Arafat to finish this in such a short time," he said, emphasizing that Arafat had taken the decision to fight terror.

Arafat reportedly appealed to U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday asking for more time to prove he really is trying to stop terrorist violence against Israelis. Arafat's main message, according to Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik who delivered the letter to Bush, was "Give me a chance."

Sharon: Israel will continue its actions against terror
Sharon told American envoy Anthony Zinni Wednesday night that so far, Israel could not identify any change in Arafat. Sharon made clear to Zinni that Israel would continue its actions, and insisted that Arafat bring about absolute quiet and fulfill all Israel's requirements and his commitments.

Israel's demands of Arafat, as Sharon told Zinni, include the arrest of terrorists, their accomplices and their controllers, the break up of all terrorist organizations and arrest of their leaders, the confiscation of all illegal weapons and their removal from PA territory, preventative action to foil terror attacks and an absolute cessation of violence.

Sharon told Likud Knesset members Wednesday that the IDF would increase its "pinpoint prevention" of terror attacks by targeting terrorist leaders. Sharon said that Israel would "attack every target of the terror organizations, use economic leverage and not conduct political contacts with them."

Sharon said the IDF's planned actions against the Palestinian Authority included:

	A total ban on Palestinian vehicular travel on West Bank inter-urban roads
	Prevention of VIP passage for PA officials
	Limiting Yasser Arafat's mobility
	Incursions into Area A according to operational needs
	Ongoing attacks against military targets and symbols of the PA

© 2001 Koret Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.