TEL AVIV, Oct 23: Israel defied its closest ally the United States on 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, on Monday jacked up its previously low-key reaction to the raids into or around six West Bank cities by demanding an immediate pullout.

Israeli Defence 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 a US 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.

Israeli newspapers spoke of a growing crisis in relations with the United States, which provides Israel with $3 billion in annual aid, at the same time as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faces cracks in his coalition over the offensive.

“Israeli defence forces should be withdrawn immediately from all Palestinian-controlled areas and no further such incursions should be made,” a State Department spokesman said on Monday.

Fighting has been particularly bad in Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, where Israeli forces are a few hundred metres (yards) inside the city.

The violence has obstructed US peace efforts in the Middle East which it views as vital to waging its anti-terror war.

Israeli army chief Shaul Mofaz told reporters that soldiers had killed “around 20 terrorists” and arrested 20 during the six-day-old operation which he said would not continue for “an extended period”.

Peres reinforced this view, saying troops could be withdrawn if the Palestinian Authority reined in militants.

“It is not our aim or our purpose to remain there at any length. If the Palestinians who have a 60,000 strong police force will take in charge the situation then there is no reason why we will remain there,” he told CNN.—Reuters