Sharon under fire for bungled Arafat siege

PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon came under wall-to-wall criticism at home yesterday for the bungled 10-day siege of Yasser Arafat's compound, which was aborted under intense US pressure.

Several Cabinet ministers said Israel underestimated Washington's opposition to the operation and its determination to keep the focus on Iraq ahead of a possible US strike against Saddam Hussein.

In new violence yesterday, Israeli troops enforcing a curfew in the West Bank town of Nablus and an adjacent refugee camp killed a 13-year-old Palestinian boy and wounded 10 youngsters, most of whom were on the way to or from school, doctors and witnesses said.