Thursday night at 11 p.m. Prime Minister Sharon convened senior ministers and security officials to approve military actions in the wake of the escalating Palestinian terror attacks. Throughout the day armored forces and troops deployed throughout the West Bank and Gaza, with dozens of transporters bringing tanks and armored personnel carriers to positions outside Palestinian cities. As in previous actions, the army cut the Gaza Strip into three sectors to prevent enemy movements.

The Palestinian Authority has evacuated offices and positions in preparation for the expected Israeli action. At 9 p.m. Yasser Arafat made a televised speech in which he expressed readiness for a ceasefire under certain conditions. At the same time, the PA is conducting intensive talks with Arab states to persuade the United States to prevent Israeli military actions.

Although there has been no official Israeli response to the Arafat speech, correspondents report that senior officials dismissed the speech as purely tactical and "too little, too late." They note that there was not even a clear declaration of an unconditional ceasefire but merely the expression of a readiness to accept a truce under certain conditions. "We're quite fed up with those declarations that Arafat makes every time he feels the pressure is mounting on him," said Ra'anan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"Passover Massacre"
Wednesday evening at 7:15 p.m., a Palestinian, apparently in disguise, detonated an explosive charge concealed under his clothes in the dining hall of Netanya's Park Hotel as the Passover holiday meal was beginning. Army Radio reports that 22 people are dead, with more than 80 still hospitalized, at least 15 in serious or critical condition. Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, claimed credit for the massacre.

The terrorist walked into the hotel, in the center of the coastal resort town north of Tel Aviv, where hundreds of people, most of them Israelis, and many of them elderly, were preparing to begin their seder meal, in which Jews commemorate the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt. He detonated a powerful explosive device in the center of the banquet hall.

The terrorist was reportedly a member of Hamas from the nearby Arab city of Tulkarm, less than ten miles away in the West Bank. The AP quoted Palestinian sources as reporting that the bomber had been on Israel's wanted list for more than 4 years. Qatar-based television station Al Jazeera reported that Hamas took responsibility for the attack. But Hezbollah's station, Al Manar, reported that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed credit. In recent months, there have been many joint productions of terror attacks, in which different groups share responsibility.

Israel's defense minister Benyamin Ben Eliezer convened a security meeting of top military and intelligence officials to discuss options for prevention and retaliation. Since Tuesday, Israel thwarted two planned terror attacks. Israeli security forces stopped a pair of suicide bombers on their way to an attack on a Jerusalem shopping mall. Earlier Wednesday, Israeli security forces discovered a wanted terrorist, traveling in a Red Crescent ambulance with a woman and three children, concealing an explosives belt.

Although the Palestinian Authority formally condemned the Netanya attack, Palestinian officials have rationalized the "operation" and expressed understanding for its motivations. Jibril Rajoub, the PA security chief for the West Bank, said Israel's "occupation" of Palestinian territory provoked such attacks. He said Israeli "assassinations" of activists, closures of Palestinian towns and other collective punishments only bred "terrorism." He said that "despite the steady policy of the Palestinian Authority, which opposes hitting civilian targets especially inside the Green Line [Israel's 1967 border], the frustrations, suffering and pain imposed by Sharon on the Palestinians pushes some Palestinians to carry out such attacks."

Hamas officials, including spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, expressed satisfaction and promised additional attacks until all Jews leave "the occupied territories of 1948," which is how the organization, like other Palestinian factions, refers to the State of Israel.

U.S. President George W. Bush strongly condemned the Netanya attack, and demanded that Arafat do more to stop such attacks. "Today, there was another suicide bomber who murdered innocent Israelis. This callous, this cold-blooded killing, it must stop," Bush said in a speech in Atlanta. "I condemn it in the strongest of terms."

The BBC reported that Israeli officials are asking the United States to declare that Arafat is responsible for the failure of the recent ceasefire talks, and to recall mediator General Anthony C. Zinni from the region. Security sources quoted by Ha'aretz said that Israel will end the policy of restraint it has undertaken in the past week due to the Zinni efforts. "Israel responded positively to all of the American envoy's proposals," the sources said. "What happened in Netanya is likely to significantly change the picture."

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said, however, that Zinni would remain in the region through the Passover holiday, which lasts seven days. He called on Arafat to give a speech on television and radio calling for an end to the violence. He said the terror attacks were destroying the visions and ambitions for a Palestinian state.

Sharon adviser Ra'anan Gissin, said Wednesday evening that the attack "will require us to re-evaluate our overall policy," Ha'aretz reported. "We are still working to achieve a ceasefire to which we are fully committed, but if the Palestinians have decided to choose the road of terrorism ... then we have to decide what measures we will take," Gissin said.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres blamed the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat for the "horrible crime," saying that they had done nothing to stop terror attacks. He called on European officials to pressure Arafat to take preventive action. Foreign Ministry deputy director general Gideon Meir described the attack as a "Passover Massacre" that will not soon be forgotten by the people of Israel.

There is a widespread expectation of Israel military responses in Palestinian controlled areas. Israeli internal security minister Uzi Landau said "This is not just terror. This is a massacre." He called on the government to "raze the Palestinian Authority infrastructure to its foundations."

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