Any hopes that were raised by the Arab peace plan have been dashed to pieces with Israel attacking the offices of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at Ramallah. Tanks were moved into Ramallah early Friday morning and subsequently these and bulldozers were used to smash through the perimeter of the compound around Mr Arafat's headquarters. The Palestinian leader has been confined here for several months and the buildings in this complex house the bulk of the security forces of the Palestinian Authority. Over the last few months, Israeli forces have been targeting the symbols of authority of the Palestinian administration. Friday's attack strikes at the heart of this authority. As usual, Israel is projecting its attack as a defensive action - a response to two suicide attacks over the last two days at Netanya and a Jewish settlement, which left about 24 people dead. There is a possibility that the attack on the PA's headquarters could expand into a larger operation. Describing !
Arafat as "an enemy" of Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced an extended military operation against "Palestinian terrorism" "everywhere it exists". 
	
	
 Israel's attack on Arafat's headquarters deals a stinging slap on the face of ongoing Arab efforts to negotiate a political settlement to the ongoing conflict. The just-concluded Arab summit had unanimously adopted a Saudi peace initiative, which called for full Israeli withdrawal from Arab territory occupied in the 1967 war, the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a "fair solution" to the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN resolutions. In return, the Arabs had agreed to consider that the Arab-Israeli conflict is at an end, enter into peace treaties with Israel and open normal relations in the context of this comprehensive peace. Israel's immediate response to the peace plan was to dismiss it as a non-starter. The attack on the PA headquarters barely a day after the peace initiative was accepted by the Arabs clearly indicates Israel's rejection of any efforts to negotiate peace through compromise. It has been clear for some time that the Sharon government is planning on settling issues with the Palestinians through invasion and re-occupation of Palestinian land and then offering a settlement based on its terms. As events over the past two years indicate, a strategy based on imposing a settlement through military means will only deepen anger and provoke retaliatory violence from the Palestinians. The attack on the PA headquarters is an explosive move and has put West Asia on the brink of another war. The international community must act immediately to pressure the Israeli government to step back from the dangerous course of action it is determined to pursue.