Israel capped one of the worst weeks of violence in the 32-month-old conflict with an abrupt offer late Friday to withdraw its troops from the northern Gaza Strip and hand over security control to the Palestinian Authority as a first step.

A senior Palestinian source also said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has discreetly put forward a proposal for a three-day ceasefire with the militant group Hamas. Israeli radio denied this.

With Israeli and Palestinian security officials due to meet Saturday night to discuss a possible troop withdrawal, the tone of Sharon's administration has come far down from the amry's bellicose vow Thursday to "completely wipe out" Hamas.

The Israelis and Americans are clearly hoping the government of Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas will be up to the job of reining in the militants whose attacks have killed more than 750 Israelis since September 2000.

"The Americans are pressing the Palestinian government to impose its authority on Hamas. If not, Hamas will take control," a senior Israeli official who asked not to be named told AFP Saturday.

But after seven helicopter raids this week on Gaza that left 25 dead put senior Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi in the hospital, the Israelis are clearly ready to try to crush Hamas if they cannot isolate and neutralize it.

In either case, they appear to have been given a free hand by US President George W. Bush, who threw his personal prestige behind an internationally drafted "roadmap" for peace at a summit he convened last week in Jordan.

As the hopes generated by the summit were drowned out by the spiraling violence that has left more than 50 people dead this week, including 17 victims in a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem, the Americans lined up squarely behind Israel.

"The terrorists are Hamas. They are the enemies to peace in the president's judgment," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Middle East leaders to urging them to "come down hard" on the militants.

Powell pressed both parties to advance on the roadmap and suggested Friday that Washington would not criticize Israeli retaliation against Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the al Aqsa Marytrs Brigade until anti-Israel attacks stopped.

But Hamas on Saturday renewed its rejection of a ceasefire in the conflict that has claimed more than 3,300 lives and said nothing short of a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories would do.

Whether the 68-year-old Abbas, who is suffering from eye trouble, can succeed in doing what Palestinian patriarch Yasser Arafat could -- or would -- not do in laying down the law to militants is a question mark for the Israelis.

Israeli public radio quoted a frustrated Sharon as saying Abbas was "a featherless little chick who needs to be assisted in his fight against terrorism until his feathers start growing."

But beyond the question of political will was also one of logistics for the Palestinians: how to gain the upper hand over the militants with a security force severely weakened by years of Israeli attacks.

Palestinian security chief Mohammad Dahlan conceded as Saturday after a meeting in Ramallah on the Israeli offer to hand over control of certain occupied areas.

He said his men were ready but added, "Our security services are in poor shape following the strikes by Israel. That's why we have to rehabilitate and strengthen them."

WAR.WIRE