RAMALLAH Ñ Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat Ñ under siege by Israel's military Ñ has issued his clearest call for an end to insurgency attacks against Israel.

But Arafat supporters said the PA chairman did not call for an end to the insurgency against Israel.

Hours later, Palestinian gunners fired mortars and anti-tank grenades toward Israeli military positions and Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. For the first time, Arafat addressed his people on PA radio and television and called for the halt in mortar attacks on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip as well as suicide bombings in Israel.

Arafat said the Palestinians must seek to ensure international support after the Islamic suicide attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11. "I again call for the complete and immediate halt in all military activities,"

Arafat said. "I renew the call for a complete cessation of any activities, particularly suicide attacks which we have condemned and always condemned. We will punish all those who plan and execute [these attacks]."

The Palestinian leader urged Islamic opposition groups to honor his authority. But he did not specifically threaten either Hamas or Islamic Jihad with retaliation.

PA sources said Arafat's message was directed largely to his own supporters in the Fatah movement, who have joined Hamas and Islamic Jihad in terrorist attacks.

Arafat also called on Israel to suspend its military campaign and return to the negotiating table. The PA chairman blamed the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the current violence and warned that the offensive would not break the Palestinian will.

"We are not asking for the impossible," Arafat said. "We are asking for the land that was captured in 1967 and eastern Jerusalem. We are asking for Israel to withdraw from these lands."

Israel did not formally respond to Arafat's appeal. The United States called for Arafat to launch a crackdown against Palestinian insurgents.

Arafat's Arab allies as well as Britain and France praised the address. Palestinian sources said PA has arrested 180 suspected insurgents.

They said security forces have raided 30 offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, most of them in the Gaza Strip. In one case, the sources said, PA officers seized computer records from Hamas.

The PA also closed two Islamic opposition weeklies. But the sources acknowledged that the offices were all closed over the weekend to honor the Id El Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Islamic fast month of Ramadan.

The offices, they said, were to have reopened on Thursday. The PA has also announced it would target weapons factories used by insurgents. A Palestinian leadership meeting over the weekend announced a decision to order security forces to search for factories that produce mortars and other weapons.

"These factories are used by the Israeli government as an excuse to escalate its security and military escalation, imposing siege on our towns and reoccupying parts of it," the PA statement said.

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