US puts pressure on Israel as futility of Sharon's policy becomes apparent

American diplomacy ­ or the lack of it ­ has become the focus of the latest chapter in the Middle East dispute as the Europeans press for effective action after the worst sustained bout of Israel- Palestinian violence since the start of the intifada.

The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has said that he will spend this weekend "re-engaging both sides", and the European's Union's envoy, Javier Solana, will arrive in the region today for an another attempt to bring calm.

Faint signs of change emerged yesterday when Israeli government officials said they had "tentatively agreed" to a Palestinian request not to initiate attacks for seven days, unless provoked. This was, however, quickly dented when Israeli soldiers shot dead an unarmed Palestinian man for running at a checkpoint near Hebron.

For weeks, the US's approach has been to concentrate efforts on pressuring Yasser Arafat to stop Palestinian violence. It has allowed Mr Sharon to trap him in his compound and administered only the lightest slap on the wrist when its forces bombed Palestinian areas or assassinated suspects.

Now Mr Sharon is back in the frame, not least because of the lack of any workable demands in Thursday's speech to the nation. Significantly, Israeli officials told The Independent on Sunday that today's Cabinet meeting would consider freeing Mr Arafat.

Mr Powell ­ often at odds with President Bush and his security hawks ­ has sent a frosty signal to Israel by talking positively about a Saudi Arabian offer to recognise Israel if it agrees to a full withdrawal from the occupied territories, including east Jerusalem. These terms are, as the Saudis know, anathema to Mr Sharon, who has always opposed an Israeli pull-back on this scale. But Western diplomats see them as an important change in stance.

Mr Sharon failed to refer in his speech ­ as he has in the past ­ to a Palestinian state. His efforts to appeal to the Palestinian people to find a new leadership, the absence of any realistic proposals, and his announcement of more closed military zones in the West Bank were also viewed as ominous.

The Americans and European leaders have publicly stated the need for the Palestinians to have a "viable state", and continue to see Mr Arafat and his Palestinian Authority as the only option. Some European and UN sources ­ increasingly frustrated by Washington's kid-glove treatment of Mr Sharon ­ believe he has a long-term goal of undermining any chance of Palestinian statehood, and of de-legitimising its chaotic and corrupt government-in-waiting, the Palestinian Authority.

He has concluded that he cannot get a deal out of the current leadership, and has defined the PA as an "entity supporting terrorism".

Suspicions abound that Mr Sharon has no intention of agreeing to a ceasefire, but is steadily consolidating Israel's hold on the occupied territories. He has systematically blocked the Mitchell peace plan ­ still seen by the international community as the only path back to negotiations ­ by imposing a precondition of seven days of total calm. Such terms are regarded as wholly unrealistic by the international community.

Diplomatic sources cite the targets chosen by Israel's armed forces during their now regular assaults on Palestinian-run towns in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel's attacks have usually been against buildings associated with the Palestinian security forces. But Israeli forces have also damaged or closed down institutions of fledgling statehood, such as Gaza's airport and European-funded sea port, the PLO headquarters in east Jerusalem and a national statistics bureau in Ramallah.

During nearly a year in office, Mr Sharon has also presided over the growth of at least 24 settlements inside the occupied territories, regarded as a casus belli by the Palestinians. Last week the guerrillas made clear that the 210,000 settlers in the occupied territories (excluding east Jerusalem) are the principal target, along with soldiers.

The latter point was driven home on Tuesday, when guerrillas killed six soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint, inflicting the Israel's army's worst single loss of the intifada. Recent days have also seen the first two suicide bombing attacks on settlements. As the war worsens, pressure is on Washington to act.