Get out now, US tells defiant Sharon

The US responded with mounting anger yesterday as Ariel Sharon stepped up Israel's military offensive against Palestinian cities on the West Bank, in open defiance of an appeal from President Bush for an immediate withdrawal to begin.
US officials made it clear the president had put his credibility on the line in calling for the withdrawal and he expected Mr Sharon to start it "now, not tomorrow", in some of the sharpest language the Bush administration has used towards Israel so far. But Mr Sharon's office simply promised to "expedite" the 10-day-old offensive, and issued a statement justifying the assault.

More than 30 Palestinians were killed yesterday as Israeli troops pushed further into Jenin and continued their onslaught in Nablus, bringing warnings from Europe that the EU would weigh the possibility of sanctions against Israel if the bloodshed continued.

In a speech on Saturday underlined by a 20-minute phone call to the Israeli prime minister from the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas, Mr Bush called for withdrawal "without delay".

Clearly taken aback by the Israeli response, senior US officials took to the talkshow circuit yesterday to warn Mr Sharon that he was in danger of exhausting his reserves of goodwill in the White House.