Israel's Sharon pledges Gaza offensive

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israeli forces clamped down harder on the West Bank, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged to widen his military offensive against Palestinian extremists to the Gaza Strip, where a helicopter strike killed four Hamas members Monday.

The latest turbulence, including the third Israeli encirclement this month of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters, came as President Bush called for a new Palestinian leadership -- one "not compromised by terror" -- and set stiff conditions for a Palestinians state.

Sharon echoed Bush's call for new leadership, but Arafat aide Saeb Erekat said the demand was "not acceptable." Arafat himself welcomed

As progress is made on security matters, Bush said Israel should remove its forces from West Bank areas under Palestinian control before violence erupted in September 2000.

Israeli forces now control six of the eight main Palestinian cities and towns in the West Bank: Jenin, Nablus, Qalqiliya, Ramallah, Tulkarem and Bethlehem.

At least 600,000 Palestinians in the West Bank are confined to their homes by army curfews, although restrictions were briefly lifted in Nablus and Qalqiliya so residents could shop and go to school.

A major six-week military offensive earlier this year that was aimed at wiping out militias behind terror attacks also focused on the West Bank, leaving the Gaza Strip -- where top militia leaders are based -- largely unscathed. This time, however, Sharon warned Gaza would not be spared.

"We are preparing massive activity against Hamas in the Strip," Sharon said, adding that it had begun with the Israeli helicopter missile strikes on two cars Monday morning in the southern Gaza Strip. He did not say what might follow.

In Ramallah, the Palestinian political headquarters in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers took up positions around Arafat's offices, where a bulldozer quickly barricaded the front gate and nearby streets with stones and debris.

More than 20 tanks were parked on the streets that surround Arafat's compound as of Monday afternoon.