AL QUDS: Ariel Sharon has moved swiftly to mend a rupture with Washington after his invocation of a Nazi comparison triggered the most heated diplomatic exchange between America and Israel in a decade.

In a hurriedly arranged telephone conversation with the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, Sharon stopped short of a direct apology to President George W. Bush for remarks that accused Washington of selling out Israel to win favour in the Arab world for its war coalition.

There will be further efforts at damage limitation this week when three Israeli officials - including the hawkish Public Security Minister, Uzi Landau - visit Washington for talks with senior White House and State Department officials.

The row is highly reminiscent of the early Nineties when Bush’s father was in the White House, and Israel was persuaded not to retaliate after an Iraqi Scud missile struck Tel Aviv for fear of upsetting an Arab coalition. When the war ended, a right-wing Israeli Prime Minister - Yitzhak Shamir - was dragged to the Madrid peace conference.

Sharon’s outburst reflects his growing fear of a repeat scenario as Washington seeks support from the Arab world for this war.

Sharon swept to power last February by promising Israelis he would never conduct negotiations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat under fire. Although he retains the support of more than 70 per cent of Israeli voters, Sharon’s standing is threatened even by efforts to consolidate a ceasefire, which commits Israel to a freeze on new settlements.

This is anathema for Sharon who, for three decades, has been the patron of the Jewish enclaves in the West Bank and Gaza, which are considered illegal under international law.

According to an aerial survey by Israeli human rights group Peace Now last week, 25 new outposts have sprouted on the stony hills of the West Bank since Sharon became prime minister despite his promise to the US not to build any new settlements.

However, even Israeli commentators believe Sharon went too far in likening the President to Neville Chamberlain, the former British Prime Minister, as an appeaser. Washington made its severe displeasure quickly known.

Despite the protestations Saturday that the row was all over, Sharon remains uneasy about Bush’s announcement that he envisages the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, and by intensified US efforts to prod Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table.

For Sharon, the comments on a Palestinian state are undeniable proof that Israel has failed to persuade Washington that Arafat is the regional equivalent of Osama bin Laden - a terrorist beyond rehabilitation, and certainly undeserving of a state.

Immediately after the Sept 11 attack, Israel was certain the US would come around to its view that Arafat was part of a global complex of hardline religious terror. Instead, Sharon has had to tone down the rhetoric against Arafat - and abandon the comparison with Osama - after US officials communicated their annoyance.

The renewed US engagement in the Middle East conflict is designed to persuade potential Arab allies of Washington’s concern about the more than 660 Palestinians killed during the year-long intifada. US officials are becoming increasingly vocal about their frustration with Sharon, and his stubborn opposition to negotiations with Arafat.

However, they have reserved a portion of their anger for Arafat, and his inability - or disinclination - to rein in Palestinian gunmen and arrest freedom fighters, as the ceasefire understandings demand.

In the wake of Sharon’s telephone call, Powell was quick to forgive. “Israel has no better friend than the United States. They know that, we know that,” he said. “From time to time, we will have these little cloudbursts, but they do not affect the strength of our relationship.” —Dawn/The Observer News Service.