JERUSALEM Ñ Under heavy domestic pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ruled out a summit with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Sharon decided not to allow Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to meet Arafat. Arafat and Peres were scheduled to meet in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The European Union and the United States had pressed Israel for the meeting. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Peres three times to appeal for the meeting.

Over the weekend, President George Bush also telephoned Sharon and called for an Arafat-Peres meeting. Sharon is said to have refused, saying such a meeting would only encourage Palestinian attacks on Israel.

Peres and Sharon met on late Saturday. After the meeting, Peres said he disagreed with Sharon's veto of the summit with Arafat. The foreign minister said the international community would now see Sharon as rejecting efforts to consider peace.

"I am not a follower of Arafat," Peres told Israel Radio on Sunday. "But I think we have to meet him."

In Cairo, Egypt warned Israel against exploiting the U.S. counterterrorism campaign to escalate attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources said more than 20 Palestinians have been killed since the attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11.

Over the weekend, at least four Palestinians and an Israeli were killed in attacks. Overnight Sunday, Israeli troops Ñ responding to the killing of an Israeli Ñ punched into the Palestinian-controlled region of Ramallah with tanks. The Israeli operation, which included missile fire, took place southwest of the city and several Palestinians were captured and injured.

"We know that Arab countries are making contacts with Israel to warn it against continuing to make use of the current conditions," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said.

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