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March 29, 2002
JERUSALEM -- As Israeli tanks moved on Palestinian cities, Yasser Arafat said Thursday he was ready for an immediate cease-fire. Israel dismissed the offer by the Palestinian Authority president as a ploy and went ahead with plans for a punishing military offensive.
Israel was expected to launch massive raids after the killing Wednesday of 20 Israelis and Jews by a Palestinian suicide bomber at a Passover Seder. Four Israelis were killed Thursday when a Palestinian gunman infiltrated a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The government also said it was calling up reserve combat units, another reflection of the deeper war footing. Palestinians were stockpiling food and evacuating public buildings.
Medical examiners worked to identify mangled bodies from the suicide bombing in the coastal city of Netanya. The attack was one of the deadliest in 18 months of relentless bloodshed, and its psychological effect for Israelis was all the more devastating because it came on a date of utmost religious significance for Jews, the opening night of Passover. Israelis called it a watershed event, a point of no return.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened an overnight meeting of all 27 members of his Cabinet for approval of the latest war plans. Ministers were demanding tough action, including the reoccupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the expulsion or elimination of Arafat.
Israeli officials said the army had been instructed to abide by a commitment not to physically harm Arafat.
In a clear bid to temper the fury of the expected Israeli onslaught, Arafat said he was ready to work toward a truce. But he didn't declare a cease-fire, and his statements fell short of a unilateral cease-fire he declared Dec. 16 under U.S. pressure.
"I assert our readiness to implement an immediate cease-fire, and we have informed Gen. Zinni," Arafat said, referring to U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni, whose truce-seeking mission has all but collapsed.
Opening the sober, angry Cabinet meeting, where the Passover killings dominated the agenda, Sharon said only Arafat was to blame. He said Israel faces "a new and different situation."
Palestinians accused Israel of ignoring efforts by Arab states and U.S. mediators to ease tensions. The Bush administration pressed Sharon to show restraint but called on Arafat to make an Arabic-language appeal to his people for calm. Neither Middle Eastern leader appeared to be paying attention.
In Elon Moreh, a Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Nablus, a Palestinian gunman burst into a house where a settler family was celebrating Passover with guests. He killed or mortally wounded four members of the family and then barricaded himself in an upper-story floor when armed settlers and troops rushed to the scene.
Soldiers shot him dead. The radical Islamic organization Hamas claimed responsibility, as it had for the Passover bombing.