Regretting that Israel had not already done so, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday that it might move to expel the Palestinian leader, Yaser Arafat, by the end of the year.

?Arafat never wanted to reach an agreement with us, and all he wants is to continue the conflict and bleed the citizens of Israel,? Mofaz told Israel?s Army Radio slast morning. ?I believe that he has to disappear from the stage of history.?

?The state of Israel made a historic mistake by not expelling him some two years ago, and we had more than a few opportunities to do this,? Mofaz said, adding, ?We will need to address this matter in a relatively short space of time, very possibly the end of this year.?

Saeb Erekat, a member of the Palestinian parliament and head of the negotiations office of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Mr Mofaz?s comments served only to ratchet up tensions and cripple peace efforts based on an American-backed plan called the road map.

?These statements will lead only in one direction: the undermining of the peace process, the undermining of the road map and a move, in an expeditious fashion, toward resuming the full occupation of the West Bank and Gaza,? Erekat said. ?That is their endgame.? Mofaz has called for Mr Arafat?s expulsion before, though other security officials have argued that Mr Arafat would then cause more trouble than he does confined to his headquarters in Ramallah.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said an attempt to expel Mr Arafat, which would almost surely involve force, could risk violating a promise he made to President Bush not to harm the Palestinian leader.

But with the peace plan in trouble, the Israeli leadership has moved to focus blame on Mr Arafat.

Mr Mofaz?s sharp words come as hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians have accelerated since the Hamas suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem on August 19, which killed 21 people and wounded many others.

Arafat refuses to cede control of security forces

Since then Israel has directed six airstrikes against members of Hamas, an Islamic militant group, killing at least 11, along with four civilians. Among them was an 11-year-old Palestinian girl who died today from injuries sustained in a missile strike last week.

After the first missile strike, Hamas and other militant groups officially ended their declared cease-fire, vowing revenge, and began firing short-range rockets into Israel. The renewed violence has crippled the peace effort.

Today brought one more casualty to the conflict. Abed al-Qadar Dahani, an Islamic Jihad member who was wanted by Israel for dispatching a suicide bomber in July, was shot and killed by the Israeli Army at a West Bank checkpoint near Jenin.

The army said that after soldiers stopped a taxi they considered suspicious, Mr Dahani stepped out and pointed a gun at them. The soldiers then opened fire, the army said. Islamic Jihad denied that the man had been carrying a gun.

Arafat faces turmoil among the Palestinians as well. Trapped in his crumbling compound, he is locked in a bitter power struggle with the man he reluctantly appointed prime minister in April, Mahmoud Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen. Israel and the United States have been refusing to negotiate with Mr. Arafat, choosing instead to deal directly with Mr. Abbas.

Mr Abbas is expected to appear before the Palestinian parliament tomorrow to defend his government?s first 100 days in office and possibly to seek a vote of confidence from legislators. Failure to win that vote could lead to his removal.

Mr Abbas, whose limited credibility among Palestinians has faltered, in part because of Israel?s willingness to embrace him, wants greater control of Palestinian security forces, which Mr Arafat does not wish to relinquish. The two men, who have known each other for decades, are no longer on speaking terms.

Distressed by their struggle, more than 200 Palestinian politicians, academics and other public figures have signed a letter that appeared in newspaper ads yesterday calling on Mr Arafat and Mr Abbas to set aside their differences and zero in on confronting the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, locked in a power struggle with Yasser Arafat, will tell parliament tomorrow he will quit unless he wins authority to take key peace steps, a Palestinian minister said.

?Abbas will ask for support for his policies or he leaves,? Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr told Reuters yesterday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

?Abbas will reiterate that the cabinet must be fully empowered, as the Basic Law states, especially in the security and administrative fields,? he said.

?He will clearly ask for backing of his policies based on the principle of one authority, respect for the rule of law, and rejection of illegal weapons,? Amr said.

The moderate premier will address parliament tomorrow to report on his performance four months after Palestinian President Arafat appointed him under international pressure for an end to almost three years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Disputes with Arafat have bogged down Abbas?s campaign for reforms, including a crackdown on militant factions, crucial to a US-backed ?road map? plan for peace with Israel.

Arafat has denied Israeli and US accusations of fomenting militant violence and obstructing the peace plan, but has refused to cede control to Abbas of Palestinian security forces seen as indispensable to reining in militants.