Sharon looks for help in Europe

Sharon seeks to enlist European support for fragile Mideast cease-fire plan

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has begun a 26-hour tour of Europe.

Sharon will first visit Germany for talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder before heading to France, where he will meet with President Jacques Chirac.

The trip does not take in Belgium, where a judge this week opened an investigation into whether Sharon can be tried for the Beirut massacre of Palestinian refugees by Israel's Lebanese Christian allies in 1982, when he was defense minister.

An Israeli national committee has already found Sharon indirectly responsible for the killings, and the Israeli government says the legal aspects of the case do not exist anymore because they were verified in Israel and re-verified in the United States.

But the new inquiry looks into whether he, and others, can be tried for alleged crimes against humanity for the same incident.

The investigation began after 23 people made complaints. Under Belgian law anyone can be prosecuted for alleged human rights abuses wherever they are committee.

VIDEO More violence as leaders push for a period of calm. CNN's Mike Hanna reports (July 2) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES U.S. tells Arafat to do more to stop violence     EXTRA INFORMATION Mideast struggle for peace

Sharon's European trip, his first as Israeli prime minister, comes after Israel's security cabinet decided on Wednesday to endorse an "active defense policy."

The full 13-member cabinet had confirmed a decision made 24-hours earlier by the smaller, so-called, kitchen cabinet to step up target strikes against what they say are Palestinian militants.

The security cabinet said it wanted to continue to observe the cease-fire plan brokered by U.S. CIA Director George Tenet on June 13, but aimed to increase its moves against those it said were taking action, or threatening to take action, against Israel, CNN's Mike Hanna said.

He added the stronger Israeli action effectively means it will continue with a series of pre-emptive actions. He said Israel believes the Palestinian Authority is not taking enough action against people threatening Israel.

Palestinians say this is a state sanctioned assassination plan, adding it is premeditated killing -- a contravention of the cease-fire, said Hanna.

Four suspected Palestinian militants accused of carrying out attacks on Israelis were arrested on Wednesday night, Israeli police said on Thursday.

Police officials told CNN the men were arrested in the northern West Bank village of Marda.

The village is located in a part of the West Bank know as Area B. The sector is under Palestinian administrative control, but is under Israel security control.

Israeli police said the four are members of the Fatah Tanzim group, the armed wing of the Fatah, the largest faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) led by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and are suspected of carrying out attacks against Israelis on the Shomron highway.

Earlier Wednesday, a man identified as a Fatah operative, who was on Israel's most wanted list, was shot and wounded in Hebron on the West Bank.

Palestinian hospital officials described the wounds suffered by Azzam Anatche, 22, as "light."

Israel Radio quoted an Israel Defense Forces official as saying the IDF was not operating in the area and had no knowledge of the shooting.