ISRAELI forces were on high alert for Palestinian protests and possible guerrilla attacks after an explosion of violence that has all but killed off Middle East peacemaking. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat rejected peace talks until Israel halted military action, as the United States, its peace efforts in tatters, licked its wounds from an apparent suicide attack on a US Navy destroyer. The attack on the guided missile destroyer Cole during a refuelling visit to the Yemeni port of Aden killed at least six American sailors, injured 36 and left 11 missing. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak intensified efforts to convene a ”national emergency government”, prompted by the killing of two Israeli soldiers by a lynch mob in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Thursday. Israel hit back with helicopter attacks on targets in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Middle East crisis has rocked global markets, pushed oil prices to 10-year highs and inflamed anti-Israel feelings across the Islamic world. – Reuters