Sharon stands firm with Israeli military efforts
Deaths pile up as terrorist acts continue in the Middle East
By Greg Myre
Associated Press

JENIN, West Bank — From a West Bank army base overlooking the scene of the deadliest fighting in Israel’s 13-day-old offensive, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday delivered a blunt message: Israel will not pull back until Palestinian militias are crushed.

KRT CAMPUS Israeli crime scene investigators look at the scene of an exploded bus on a main road near the port city of Haifa, Israel Wednesday. A suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body blew up the crowded morning rush-hour bus killing at least eight people and wounding 14.

Sharon’s statement defied increasingly impatient U.S. demands for a withdrawal from Palestinian towns — to be delivered in person Friday by Secretary of State Colin Powell — and came hours after an Islamic militant blew himself up on a bus in northern Israel, killing himself and eight passengers.

Speaking to cheering soldiers at a post overlooking the battered Jenin refugee camp, Sharon said he explained to President Bush that “we are in the middle of a battle” which, if abandoned prematurely, would only require another round of fighting later on.

“Once we finish, we are not going to stay here,” the former general said.

“But first we have to accomplish our mission.” He added that unless Israel crushed the militants, the phenomenon of suicide bombings “could spread like a plague around the world.”

Earlier in the day, Israel’s Security Cabinet affirmed the decision to continue the offensive. By nightfall, resistance was subdued in the Jenin camp — where fighting has raged for days and where 13 Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday in a sophisticated Palestinian ambush — and in the old town of Nablus, the largest West bank city.

Powell insisted his peacekeeping mission was not threatened by Sharon’s refusal to halt the incursions. “My mission is not in the least in jeopardy,” he told reporters in Spain.

Powell, who arrives in Jerusalem late Thursday, said he intends to meet both Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Sharon said Powell would be making a “tragic mistake” in meeting with Arafat, who has been confined to his Ramallah offices by Israeli forces for the past two weeks.

Still, Israel has said it would not try to prevent a Powell-Arafat meeting.

Israel allowed Arafat to see several senior aides on Wednesday. Later in the day, the Palestinian officials met with U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni.

Sharon has branded Arafat the leader of a “regime of terror” and has suggested he would no longer do business with him. However, Powell reiterated Wednesday that the United States would continue dealing with Arafat.

Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia said the Palestinians would demand that Powell secure an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas and that U.S. mediators come up with a timetable for carrying out a cease-fire.

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