Sharon lashes out at Arafat after stoning horror

Israel’s prime minister Ariel Sharon has launched a furious attack on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, accusing him of failing to contain violence, following the stoning to death of two Jewish teenagers.

Koby Mandell, 13, and Yossi Ishran, 14, were beaten to death with rocks in a West Bank cave after playing truant from school to go on a wilderness hike.

Their bodies were found yesterday about half a mile from their homes in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, in the Judean Desert.

It comes two days after a four-month-old Palestinian girl was killed by shrapnel in an Israeli attack at a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

The seven months of Middle East violence have claimed the lives of dozens of youths, and the high-profile killings this week have provoked a new round of recriminations.

Sharon said he was revolted by the boys’ murder. ‘‘It was a heinous deed in which children were intentionally attacked,’’ he said.

Asked whether Arafat was still a potential negotiating partner, Sharon said that ‘‘anyone who causes the killing of Israeli citizens cannot be a partner’’.

If violence stopped, Israel would be ready to resume peace talks, Sharon said.

Asked about the killings, Arafat responded by saying that Palestinian children had been victimised by Israel.

Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip Israeli troops staged three separate incursions into Palestinian territory, including a foray into the eastern edges of Gaza City with tanks and bulldozers that razed farmland, Palestinian police said.

Arafat warned that the Palestinians would not tolerate such operations.