Israel’s Cabinet has decided call up reserves to deal with an increase in Palestinian terror attacks, a minister said today after the marathon emergency Cabinet session.

Tanks are surrounding Yasser Arafat's West Bank office in Ramallah, signalling the start of Israeli military retaliation to Palestinian attacks.

Cracks emerged in Israel’s ruling coalition today after members of the moderate Labour party, led by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, boycotted a cabinet vote on tougher action against the Palestinians.