JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israel defied its closest ally the United States Tuesday by rebuffing Washington's demands to pull back from its broadest military offensive against the Palestinian Authority.Washington, which hopes an end to fighting would boost Arab support for its military strikes in Afghanistan, Monday jacked up its previously low-key reaction to the raids into or around six West Bank cities by demanding an immediate pullout.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer brushed aside the demand to end the offensive, which aims at pressuring Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to hand over the assassins of a far-right Israeli cabinet minister.
``The things that came out of there (the United States), with all due respect, are not valid,'' Ben-Eliezer told reporters.
``Because we have no intention of staying in these territories. We have no intention of staying in area A (Palestinian-ruled areas) and we have no intention of conquering territory.''
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told CNN from Washington where he was due to meet Secretary of State Colin Powell that Israel would pull out once Arafat ``responded positively'' to, what he called a U.S. demand he arrest Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi's killers.
Arafat told reporters in Gaza that Israel was ``belittling'' the international community by turning a blind eye to demands it withdraw from areas taken since the assassination last Wednesday.
The United States has taken an increasingly critical stance as the Israeli troops dug in and the death toll mounted in fighting in several parts of the West Bank in the past few days.
Fighting has been particularly bad in Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, where Israeli forces are a few hundred yards inside the city.