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Washington - The suicide bombings by Palestinians and the Israeli isolation of Yasser Arafat in his compound have intensified the Middle East conflict, leading to fears it could spread in the region. The gulf is widening between the two sides, as demonstrated by a Palestinian rally in Washington and Sunday's speech by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave no ground in his speech to the nation. He said all of Israel's efforts to end the violence have been met with terror, declaring that Israel must combat this terrorism uncompromisingly. He added there will be no compromise with terrorism in the form of suicide bombers slaughtering innocent people. Mr. Sharon said this terrorism is promoted by one man, Yasser Arafat, whom he called the enemy of Israel and the free world. The prime minister added that peace can only be achieved by wiping out his terrorist infrastructure. Dore Gold, a top adviser to Mr. Sharon, also put the blame for the violence squarely on Mr. Arafat. "Under the Oslo agreements," he said, "Yasser Arafat was supposed to become the Nelson Mandela of the Palestinians, a man who would set aside violence as a political tool, renounce terrorism. Unfortunately, in the area under his jurisdiction, a vast network of international terrorism has grown, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, the organization that invented airplane hijacking, all have been operating against Israel." But Mr. Sharon was the villain of a weekend Palestinian demonstration in Washington. Waving the Palestinian flag and placards denouncing the Israeli leader, several hundred demonstrators called for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, the West Bank and Gaza. A dozen Palestinian children held signs with names. A Palestinian woman explained they represent children killed by Israeli forces. She said, "I'm here to show all the world, all the victims that have nothing to do with what is going on between Israel and Palestine, innocent children ranging, as you can tell here, from teenagers, 13, ...