Israel's security cabinet is due to convene Sunday evening to discuss the recent escalation of Palestinian violence, which resulted in the death of 21 Israelis in the last twenty-four hours. At this morning's full cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attacked politicians who had criticized the army's incursion into the Jenin and Balata refugee camps, and said the Palestinian terror attacks were not a direct result of the IDF operations.

Israeli diplomatic sources said that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had given a green light for a wave of terror against Israeli targets, ynet reported. A government spokesman, quoted by Agency France-Presse, said that there was no longer any differentiation between the terrorist organizations, as "they all chose the strategy of terror with Arafat's approval."

Minister without portfolio Danny Naveh (Likud) blamed Arafat for the latest attacks, and said, "There is no alternative but to put an end to Arafat's rule… I think the best way to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens is that there will no longer be a Palestinian Authority headed by Arafat," he said.

Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) justified stronger IDF actions in the territories, but told Israel Radio that only a diplomatic solution would end the conflict. "A military solution won't end this," he said.

Opposition leader Yossi Sarid (Meretz) said, "As long as the occupation continues, the wave of terror will continue." Sarid said that the truth must be told to the public, and called on the government to end the occupation of the territories and establish a defensible border for the country.

Names of victims released
According to an official IDF statement, seven of the victims of the shooting attack on the army roadblock this morning near Ofra were soldiers, and the other three were civilians. The army announced the identities of four of the soldiers:

	Capt. Ariel Hovav, 25, from Eli.
	Sgt.-Maj. Raphael Levy, 42, from Rishon Letzion.
	Sgt.-Maj. Avraham Ezer, 38 from Kiryat Bialik.
	Sgt.-Maj. Yohai Porat, 26, from Kfar Saba.

Sgt. Steven Kenigsberg, 19, of Hod Hasharon, was the soldier killed Sunday morning in the shooting attack near the Kissufim Crossing in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier, the names of nine of the victims of last night's suicide bombing in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood were made public:

	Nehmad family: father Shlomo, 40, mother Gafnit, 32, Shiraz, 7, and Liran, 3, from Rishon Letzion.
	Shauli, 15, a nephew of the Nehmad family.
	Lidor Ilan, 12, his sister Oriya Ilan, one year old.
	Sofia Yaarit Eliyahu, 23, and her son Yaakov Avraham Eliyahu, seven months old, from the Beit Yisrael neighborhood.

IAF jets bomb Ramallah
Israeli Air Force F-16 jets bombed Palestinian police headquarters in Ramallah this morning. Palestinian sources said that Israeli helicopters fired missiles at offices adjacent to Arafat's presidential compound. Palestinians reported that at least one security officer was killed and 18 wounded in the air attacks.

In addition, a Palestinian policeman was reported killed and four others wounded by Israeli tank fire directed at a military intelligence building in Salfit, north of Ramallah. Two other policemen were killed when the army shelled a police installation in Kalkilya, Ha'aretz reported.

Israeli troops also directed heavy gunfire at Palestinian checkpoints in the West Bank, "through which Palestinian terrorists pass to carry out attacks" according to the army.

Earlier, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at police headquarters and the governor's building in Bethlehem. The army said it struck at the buildings, and at a workshop for the manufacture of bombs, in retaliation for the suicide bombing Saturday night in Jerusalem, perpetrated by a Palestinian from the Dehaishe refugee camp near Bethlehem.

IDF forces withdrew early Sunday morning from the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, but continued to maintain a tight blockade on the camp and around the Jenin refugee camp, from which the army withdrew on Saturday.

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