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Israel scales down action plan

AFP, Jerusalem
Fearing it would get its fingers burned with a massive assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel appeared Saturday to have scaled down its objectives but denied succumbing to US pressure.
Plans for a major military offensive to avenge a suicide bombing Tuesday have been whittled down to a more-limited operation using less ground forces, said sources close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
An all-out blitz risked heavy bloodshed in Gaza's over-crowded refugee camps, with echoes of the casualties and widespread destruction from last month's fierce battles in the West Bank's Jenin refugee camp.
Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer directed the change of course at a meeting late Friday with senior military officials, stressing it was purely a military decision with no foreign intervention.
Gaza, the bastion of Islamic radicals Hamas, was targeted following Tuesday's suicide bombing in a pool hall near Tel Aviv that left 17 dead and 55 injured.
Publicly, Israel is saying it abandoned an immediate assault because plans to strike at Hamas' bombing masterminds had been leaked and the targets had gone to ground.
The leak came from Transport Minister Ephraim Sheh who announced after an emergency cabinet meeting Wednesday night that there were "no divergences in our view on the necessity of our troops intervening against
the terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip."
Tanks were massed close to the Gaza Strip, army reservists were called up, and Effie Eytam, minister without portfolio, spoke of an offensive combining air attacks with ground operations.
But as Israel backed off launching an immediate assault, there were growing signals of US influence, not leaks, which led to the plans being toned down.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in a story Friday well before Ben Eliezer's meeting, quoted senior security sources as saying the Gaza operation "could be called off at the last minute after American pressure on both sides."
At a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo Friday, Egypt's Ahmed Maher called on the United States to "assume their responsibilities" saying "The United States is the one that can influence Israel."
In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer appeared to sound a note of caution Thursday about a Gaza attack, saying "Israel has to be very mindful of its responsibilities to protect peace in the region and work toward a vision of peace."
The timing of any strike now in Gaza would likely clash with the imminent arrival of CIA chief George Tenet who is being sent by Washington to help the Palestinians build a unified security force.
Israeli military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur said any reoccupation of Palestinian territory, following last month's sweep across the West Bank, would undoubtedly "raise huge international pressure" on Sharon.