Israeli forces were surrounding the Palestinian town of Qalqilya late Sunday, reported Abu Dhabi satellite channel.
The station’s correspondent said that local radios were announcing warnings by the Intifada leadership, urging people not to gather in public areas, and to cooperate with the Palestinian security forces.
Qalqilya is the hometown of Said Hotari, the Hamas suicide bomber who carried out Tel Aviv Friday bombing, in which 19 Israelis were killed and some 120 injured.
Meanwhile, the Israeli radio warned strikes had been ordered.
"Our finger is on the trigger to ensure the security of the citizens of Israel," Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer warned.
That was highlighted by an Israeli public radio report, saying the government had ordered strikes against Palestinian extremists responsible for most anti-Israeli bombings in recent years, and that the Palestinian Authority itself may also be targeted.
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.
The Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades "will continue their martyr (acts) until all our rights are recovered and they announce their determination to avenge all the martyrs and to defend the al-Aqsa mosque and Palestine with their souls", the a statement faxed to AFP said.
The report followed meetings chaired by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with his inner security cabinet and the full government to weigh the response to Friday night's attack at a beachside nightclub in Tel Aviv that killed 19 young people plus the bomber.
During the meeting, Sharon labeled Arafat's call merely a "tactic" employed because of international pressure and fears of harsh reprisals, Israeli radio reported.
Indeed, a senior Israeli security official told a briefing for foreign reporters on condition of anonymity that Arafat's call averted a harsh Israeli retaliation.
"We were just about to launch a very very severe airstrike", he was quoted as saying by AFP, warning however: "But I am sure you will see it will happen, unfortunately, whenever the chairman will decide to go back to terrorism and not to keep the ceasefire."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was encouraged at Sharon's measured response despite pressure to retaliate.
"I am glad that so far he is pacing the response and he is giving the other side, the Palestinian side, time to act on what they said they were going to do ... I would encourage him to keep having this measured response," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Powell, who spoke to both Sharon and the Palestinian leader after the Tel Aviv attack, said his message to Arafat was: "This is the time to bring the violence under control."
The United States is leading an international campaign to try to break the cycle of violence that has claimed almost 600 lives since late September, but Palestinians and Arab parties accuse the super power of taking the Israeli side, by ignoring the fact that Israel is occupying Palestinian lands and launching aggression on the Palestinians.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Arafat held talks with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to discuss the "details of the implementation of the ceasefire".
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat also appealed on Voice of Palestine radio for US Middle East envoy William Burns to resume efforts to implement the recommendations made by a committee led by former US senator George Mitchell.
And Moscow also sought to step up its role, with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov making calls to Powell, Arafat and Peres, condemning "criminal acts of terrorism" while calling on Israel to show patience, said the agency.
For their part, a coalition of 13 Palestinian movements, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said Sunday they intended to continue the Intifada, after a meeting to discuss Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's ceasefire order, reported AFP.
The various groups, which also Fateh faction, stressed in a joint statement "the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against aggression, occupation and colonization and continue the Intifada, one of their legitimate rights."
They called on the Palestinians to "continue popular demonstrations to underline the continuation of the Intifada,” the revolt against Israeli occupation now in its ninth month, said the statement, cited by AFP.
The coalition, known as the Islamic and Nationalist Forces, had met to debate Arafat's ceasefire order.
Arafat issued instructions late Saturday to his security forces to ensure implementation of a "total and immediate ceasefire" on Israeli targets and called for contacts among the factions.
The order followed the Tel Aviv blast which killed 19 Israelis as well as the bomber who had joined a line of teenagers outside a beachfront nightclub.
ISRAELI MINISTER SAYS ARAFAT HAS ONE OR TWO DAYS TO PROVE CEASEFIRE
Israel is giving Arafat "one or two days" to test his commitment to the ceasefire he declared after Friday night's Tel Aviv bombing, a minister said Sunday.
"What is important is not Arafat's declaration but what happens on the ground, and in one or two days we will know," minister without portfolio Danny Naveh told Israeli public television, cited by AFP.
"I am skeptical of Arafat's true intentions and I have strong fears that this is only a new maneuver on his part," said Naveh, a member of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party.
If the "violence" persists, Israel should "put an end to its policy of restraint and treat the Palestinian Authority as a terrorist organization," he added.
Arafat ordered his security services on Saturday to implement a total and immediate ceasefire, promising to do "whatever is necessary" to back up his order.
According to Israeli public radio, Israel's inner security cabinet also gave Arafat no more than 24 hours to prove he wants to work to calm the violent situation in the region, said Haaretz newspaper.
Arafat condemned Friday's attack, saying he was against any killing of civilians.
"We are ready to make the utmost effort to stop the bloodbath among our people and the Israeli people, and to do whatever is necessary for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire," Arafat told reporters.
According to Haaretz, some senior Israeli officials believe that Arafat's promise to work toward a cease-fire is "nothing more than a tactical step aimed at easing the mounting international pressure on the Palestinians."
CIA CHIEF TO VISIT ISRAEL, PA TERRITORIES
CIA chief George Tenet will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories within two days, Palestinian officials said Sunday, quoted by Israel Radio.
Tenet will arrive in the region to help implement the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians, and the Mitchell Commission report recommendations, said the radio, cited by Haaretz.
The radio also said that Russia is to send a special emissary to Israel following a telephone call between Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Both agreed to coordinate efforts to put an end to the escalating situation in the region and to renew the diplomatic dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said the radio.
TWO PALESTINIANS KILLED BY SETTLERS FIRE, ISRAELI ARMY ATTEMPTS TO ASSASSINATE JIHAD MEMBER
Two Palestinian brothers were killed Sunday near the West Bank city of Ramallah when their car overturned on Sunday after it came under fire from Jewish settlers. Meanwhile, the Israeli army attempted to assassinate a member of the Islamic Jihad in Jenin.
Palestinian intelligence sources said that Ziad Mahmoud 32, and Eid Mahmoud, 38, were driving near Burka village east of Ramallah not far from the settlement of Ofra when the incident occurred, reported AFP.
"Settlers shot at the car and it overturned," an intelligence source said.
An Israeli police spokesman said they had no information of any shooting.
"At this stage we think it is a car accident and there are no indications of any shots being fired," the spokesman told AFP.
In Jenin, Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to assassinate Mohammed Bsharat Sunday in the West Bank village of Tamun near Jenin, Israel Radio reported, cited by Haaretz.
The Palestinians said an army helicopter could be seen hovering over the area where the attempted hit took place.
"It was clearly an Israeli assassination attempt," said an activist from Fateh movement who was in the car with the Jihad militant and another Fateh activist at the time.
"There was a huge explosion around 10 meters (yards) behind the car," the Fateh member told AFP.
The Fateh activist told AFP that it "was clearly caused either directly from the plane or remotely by agents."
Bsharat was detained by the Palestinian Authority for around two years before being released at the start of the now eight-month-old Palestinian Intifada.
Israel has killed a number of Palestinian militants by various methods, including bombs and helicopter gunships, since the Intifada began.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli army claimed that Palestinian gunmen opened fire at an Israeli army vehicle west of the West Bank city of Tulkarem, said reports.
There were no reports of injures - Albawaba.com
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