Sharon to tackle terror crisis

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived back in Israel today for meetings that will decide his government's response to Palestinian suicide attacks which killed 25 people in less than 12 hours.

Sharon cut short a visit to the United States, and a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush was brought forward, to enable the Israeli leader to return to deal with the crisis.

Sharon is expected to meet senior security officials at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv before holding a series of meetings with senior cabinet ministers to decide how to tackle the worst series of bomb attacks in Israel in years.

This morning, Israeli President Moshe Katsav urged world leaders to isolate Palestinian President Yasser Arafat until he cracks down on militants following a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks that killed at least 25 people.

Katsav is largely a figurehead leader and has no say in government decisions, but his comments highlighted growing hostility towards Arafat in Israel.

He said Arafat saw violence as a way of making diplomatic gains and was leading his people towards catastrophe.

"The nations of the free world, especially Europe, which has good relations with the PA (Palestinian Authority), and the Arab states must tell Arafat that there is no legitimacy to acts of terror," Katsav wrote in the Jerusalem Post newspaper.

"And they must tell him that as long as the terror continues, the international community will not have diplomatic relations with him. I believe such a stance will be effective and useful, and that Arafat will then take practical steps to stop terrorism."

Speaking before Israel's cabinet meets to decide how to respond to the weekend bombings in Jerusalem and the port city of Haifa, Katsav said Israel had no interest in a military escalation but had the right to defend itself and "prevent the spilling of its citizens' and residents' blood".

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