Hemi Shalev, in the newspaper Ma’ariv, wrote: “One can only imagine Sharon watching the speech on TV, and the smile on his face spreading wider and wider until he cries with joy when he hears Bush demand Arafat’s political head on a platter.”

Ruby Rivlin, the Israeli Government’s Communication Minister, a member of Mr Sharon’s Likud Party, reached the same conclusion.

“It looks like it was written by a senior Likud official. We are talking about a pro-Israeli speech and a victory for the course taken by Prime Minister Sharon.”

Mr Barnea said that while Mr Bush’s call for Mr Arafat’s removal was unlikely to have any chance of success in the short term, it was certain to encourage Mr Sharon to step up his military offensive against the Palestinians and to ignore calls to resume dialogue.

“Bush’s call to replace the leadership, to wit Arafat, will achieve the exact opposite: it will force the Palestinian leadership to rally round the besieged Arafat once again.”

Mr Barnea concluded that Mr Bush’s decision not to impose any rigid timetable for the realisation of a Palestinian state meant that the two sides would not be forced to talk to one another in the near future.

Mr Bush’s speech appeared to have little effect on the conflict yesterday as Israeli troops took control of Hebron in the West Bank. Four Palestinian policemen, including a top-ranking intelligence officer, were killed as the troops moved in and imposed a curfew on the city.

Palestinian officials said that there was an exchange of gunfire as Israeli troops, backed by tanks, stormed the city’s Palestinian Authority security headquarters. Israeli soldiers surrounded the complex and carried out searches, demanding that all Palestinians surrender.

The Israeli Army said that the raid was aimed at Hebron’s “terrorist infrastructure”. It said that a large number of suspected Palestinian militants were arrested and that soldiers had also discovered an explosives factory.

Hebron is the seventh Palestinian city in the past week to be taken over since a series of suicide bombings that have killed more than 30 Israelis. Israel still occupies many of the largest cities in the West Bank, and most are under curfew.

Elsewhere, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian in Gaza who threw grenades at an army post. An eight-year-old girl was seriously wounded when troops opened fire during an incursion into the West Bank town of Arabeh, Palestinian officials and medical sources said.