Israel pledges to continue action against militants

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet brushed aside US criticism and said yesterday that Israel would stick to its controversial policy of tracking down and killing suspected Palestinian militants.

A senior Palestinian official, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, called the policy "the biggest violation" of the faltering Mideast cease-fire, which is in danger of crumbling three weeks after it was declared.

But Israel insists it will carry out pre-emptive strikes in an effort to prevent Palestinian ambush shootings and bomb attacks that have continued despite the US-brokered truce.

Deputy defence minister, Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, defended the policy: "When we know of a terrorist who is a ticking bomb, meaning he is on his way to carry out an attack in Israel, it is incumbent on us to prevent it and that is what we do."

Israel began targeting Palestinian militants last November, and has killed 24 people in 19 attacks, says the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights.

Six Palestinians and two Israelis were killed on Sunday and Monday in the worst surge of violence since the ceasefire was declared on 13 June.

"The Israelis are the ones who violate it," Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, said during a brief visit to Cairo, Egypt. "We are passing through a very dangerous period."

Israel's Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, admitted the truce was in "a profound crisis" and said "everything has to be done to save it".

The continuing unrest has prevented the start of a seven-day test period that the sides agreed to during the recent visit by the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Israel says that for the count to begin there must be no violence. The test period would trigger a series of other stages leading to the resumption of peace talks.

Israel has put its army on alert along its northern border with Lebanon, where the army exchanged rocket fire with the militant Lebanese group Hizbollah over the weekend.