On a day that saw four Jewish settlers, including an infant, injured by Palestinian gunmen, and Israel responding with tank fire that killed a Palestinian policeman, the Israeli government publicly denied that it was planning to reinvade Palestinian areas and force out the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat.
Israeli troops did take control of a small area of Palestinian controlled territory in the Nablus region, and Israeli leaders complained that Mr Arafat was not doing enough to prevent attacks on Israel targets. Palestinian officials countered that Israel was provoking the violence, citing the Israeli demolition of Palestinians homes this week in East Jerusalem and Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
As Jewish settlers smashed the windscreens of Palestinian vehicles in response to the shootings, and demanded that the government end its self-described "policy of restraint", a hardline Knesset member, Mr Michael Kleiner, called on the government to "capture and force out" Mr Arafat. Another hardliner, the Public Security Minister, Mr Uzi Landau, called for army "operations deep inside Palestinian territory".
The Israeli media had on Wednesday quoted a "top-level" Israeli source as claiming that Mr Arafat has given orders to militant loyalists to "kill a settler a day" - an assertion strongly denied by aides to Mr Arafat.
The Hebrew press had earlier reported that Israel has a 30phase plan for confronting the Palestine Authority (PA). And the British Foreign Report newsletter has suggested that the Israeli army has submitted a plan to the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, to send 30,000 troops into PA territory, destroy its installations, and force the departure of Mr Arafat.
All of this, however, was denied yesterday by both Mr Sharon and Mr Shimon Peres, his Foreign Minister.
The Israeli Prime Minister announced in Rome late last night that Israel will retaliate "on the ground" from now on to armed Palestinian attacks, after further violence in the West Bank. Israeli and Palestinian forces waged a heavy gun battle in Hebron early today after gunmen shot and wounded two Jewish settlers.
