Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has accused Israel of "opening the gates to an all-out war" after the leader of a major Palestinian faction was assassinated in an Israeli missile attack yesterday.
Abu Ali Mustafa (63), secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was in his office on the third floor of an apartment building in Ramallah when Israeli helicopters fired two missiles into the premises, killing him instantly.
The attack, which drew protests from all Palestinian factions and much of the Arab world, was also condemned by the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, who accused Israel of raising "tensions in the region to levels we have not seen in many years". He said a diplomatic initiative was urgent if the crisis was not to spread. But Palestinian officials, who have declared three days of mourning, said there was now no likelihood of a meeting between Mr Arafat and Israel's Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, who was apparently not consulted about the assassination.
The US State Department expressed relatively mild reservations, focusing its concerns on the fact that several American citizens live in the same building.
In what it said was a first revenge action, Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli settler on a West Bank road south of Nablus. And, after several days of quiet, Palestinian gunmen fired on Gilo, on the southern edge of Jerusalem. More dramatic attacks on Israeli diplomatic offices overseas and on Israeli politicians have been threatened.
Mr Mustafa, whose group is the second-largest faction in the PLO after Mr Arafat's Fatah, is the most prominent leader killed by Israel in 11 months of conflict. An outspoken opponent of reconciliation with Israel, his death indicates that Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, is prepared to target ever more senior figures in his attempts to quash the Intifada.
Israeli officials were adamant yesterday that Mr Mustafa was directing "acts of terrorism" including a series of recent carbombings in which several Israelis were injured. But Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, Mr Arafat's Information Minister, called the killing "a crime against a political leader".
Mr Sharon has now reached "the executive floor" of the Palestinian leadership, said an Israeli analyst, Mr Ehud Ya'ari. "Arafat's office, of course, is at the end of the corridor."
Four Israeli tanks, armed with heavy machineguns, early today entered the Palestinian village of Beit Jala near Jerusalem and eight more went to the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in what the army said were reprisal raids for earlier attacks.