Bush calls for end to Arafat rule

Israeli tanks rolled into Hebron hours after George Bush called on the Palestinians to dump Yasser Arafat as their leader in a stark vision for peace in the Middle East.

The Israeli Right hailed Mr Bush's speech as the most pro-Israeli statement in US history. Mr Arafat, 73, issuing a statement from his beleaguered Ramallah compound, ignored the US president's call.

Israel's forces killed four Palestinian policemen in fighting as tanks pushed into Hebron and raided the Palestinian Authority HQ. The army said its forces had found in the West Bank city a large bomb factory whose contents included bomb belts to be used in suicide attacks and a car bomb ready for use.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon warned that the Gaza Strip was his next target. He said he was preparing a " massive operation" there against Hamas and other radical Islamic groups behind a wave of suicide bombings. Israel had already announced it would reoccupy areas under Mr Arafat's control and hold them "hostage" against terror attacks.

In an address from the White House's Rose Garden, Mr Bush said: "Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership, so that a Palestinian state can be born. I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror." Mr Arafat's response was meek. Mr Bush's statement was a "serious effort to push the peace process forward," he said. His close advisers, however, were staggered by the open demand that Mr Arafat step aside.

"Palestinian leaders don't come from parachutes from Washington or anywhere else. Palestinian leaders are elected directly by the Palestinian people," said Saeb Erekat, Mr Arafat's chief negotiator. He omitted to mention that Mr Arafat has overstayed his presidential term by three years. Mr Bush's speech closely reflects Israel's position. Israeli cabinet minister Dav Naveh said it was the "end of the Arafat era and a victory for Israel's position".

Americans back the idea of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as envisaged in Mr Bush's speech, an opinion poll shows today. Of those questioned, 45 per cent said there should be a Palestinian nation, 20 per cent said there should not and a large 35 per cent had no opinion.

The name "Yasser Arafat" was conspicuous by its absence from Mr Bush's speech, but the president put the blame for the chaos and terror in the Middle East firmly on his movement.

But Mr Bush warned Israel that permanent occupation of Palestinian territories threatens its identity as a democratic nation. He asked Mr Sharon to order a stop to building settlements in Gaza and the West Bank and eventually to pull back to the boundaries Israel held before its victory in the 1967 war.