Editorial comment: Stopping Israel's Sharon

Ariel Sharon has embarked on a military folly that bears disturbing resemblance to his ill-fated 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The US, which was seen by many at the time to have given Israel at least an amber light to pursue its destructive Lebanon war, should not repeat the same mistake. For Israel's sake, Washington must intervene to halt Mr Sharon's widening reoccupation of territories under Palestinian control.

Memories are short in Israel - and, it would seem, in Washington too. Twenty years ago, as defence minister, Mr Sharon pledged to uproot the terrorist infrastructure of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, headed by Yassir Arafat, in what he promised would be an offensive lasting a few days. His forces, however, pushed all the way to Beirut, imposing a three-month siege on the city.

Mr Arafat and the PLO were driven out of Lebanon but from the debris of war was born a deadlier enemy for Israel: the Lebanese Shia group Hizbollah. Israel was plunged into an 18-year quagmire that ended only with its unilateral withdrawal in May 2000.

The Israeli prime minister has now declared another war on terrorism, this time against the Palestinian Authority of Mr Arafat, who is accused of sponsoring suicide bombers. Israeli officials speak of a three-to-four-week occupation of areas from which Israel withdrew as part of the 1993 Oslo peace accords. But officials also say the offensive will last until "terrorism is uprooted"