THE ISRAELI inner cabinet last night authorised Prime Minister Shimon Peres to negotiate a ceasefire in Israel's campaign against Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon, Israel radio reported.
Mr Peres called emergency, talks of his inner security cabinet after the Israeli shelling of a UN base in Qana, south Lebanon killed more than 90 people.
As news of the massive civilian casualties filtered into the country yesterday, the government blamed Hizbullah for the escalating conflict and remained unshaken in its commitment to continue its military campaign against the Iranian backed Shia guerrillas in Lebanon.
Sounding angry and unbowed, Mr Peres attacked Syria and Lebanon for not reining in Hizbullah.
He said that the Shia guerrillas were "bringing disaster on Lebanon".
The Israeli artillery bombardment which killed dozens of Lebanese civilians in the UN compound yesterday, Mr Peres said, had been in response to the tact that Hizbullah guerrillas had launched Katyusha rockets only 300 from the civilian shelter.
"Hizbullah's strategy," Mr Peres said, "is to hide behind the civilian population of Lebanon."
Mr Peres said the Israeli government was "not bloodthirsty" and "deeply regrets" the death of all civilians.
But he added: "If Hizbullah shoot at our civilians then we will return fire. It is our right to protect ourselves."
Earlier, speaking shortly after Israel television broadcast pictures of a convoy of Israeli tanks waiting on the northern border for orders to cross into south Lebanon, the Foreign Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, said the military operation "will continue" until "far reaching goals" had been attained.
These, he said, including included an end to Hizbullah's rocketing of civilian settlements in northern Israel and an assurance that the Israeli army was free to act against Hizbullah guerrillas in South Lebanon.
A stony faced Mr Barak would not say whether the tanks parked on Israel's northern border meant the army was about to launch a ground offensive in Lebanon.
Mr Barak - a former chief of staff and a hawk in Mr Peres's government - estimated the rapidly rising civilian death toll in Lebanon would increase international pressure on Israel, but he said: "As Israelis we have to bite our lips and continue until there are no Katyushas on northern Israel."
The US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher, announced yesterday that he would be in the region tomorrow, and some analysts suggested Israel would now be forced to scale down its offensive.
Meanwhile, Mr Per&yesterday met the Palestinian Authority head, Mr Yasser Arafat, for the first time since a wave of suicide bombings by Hamas militants killed almost 60 people in Israel.
While Mr Peres pledged Israel Palestinian negotiations on a final settlement would begin on May 4th, Mr Arafat said he, in turn, would convene the Palestinian National Council on April 22nd in an effort to alter the PLO resolution which calls for the destruction of Israel.