BAIT-UL-MOQADDAS -- After the failure of his massive reoccupation of the West Bank to stem the tide of Palestinian deadly attacks, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is under pressure to explain where his new policy of banishment and house demolitions is taking Israel, AFP reported.

"Sharon owes us an answer" said the mass-circulation *** Maariv *** newspaper Monday, a day after a bout of Palestinian attacks left 12 Israelis dead.

"Ariel Sharon, the man who made empty promises in his election campaign to restore security to our homes, our streets, our places of entertainment and to the buses we take ... does not address the public to explain himself," editor-in-chief Amnon Dankner wrote.

Israel slapped a ban on car drivers in five West Bank cities, in a new bid to tighten its grip on the Palestinians.

This came as atttacks, which Palestinian factions claim are revenge for the killing of a Hamas chief, showed no sign of abating on Monday, after four more deaths.

The army also recently stepped up its demolition of houses belonging to suspected activists and ordered their relatives expelled to the Gaza Strip, after cracks appeared in its containment of the West Bank, which it has reoccupied since June 19.

On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin ben Eliezer was doing his best to convince the public the costly operation was effective, telling military radio: "Nobody goes in or out" of the West Bank.

"Surprises in the anti-terror war should be expected. Israel is examining all possible measures likely to curb the violence," he added, as the press turned up the heat on the government for failing to stop the violence.

Israeli radio said work on the defensive fence that began in June and is planned to one day stretch 350 kilometers (220 miles) along the "green line" had only resulted in 40 meters (yards) being built.

"What government would suffice with partial military operations that are effective only very temporarily and look on while its citizens are killed and injured and the rest are frightened, holed up and live under a permanent cloud of fear and terror?", Dankner fumed.

"A government that treats the lives of the country's citizens the way the Sharon government has, owes a persuasive explanation to the public," he insisted, as the Israeli death toll since the beginning of the *** intifada *** 22 months ago neared the 600 mark.

"Nearly two years of hatred and insanity have turned us into people who are becoming ever more jaded in the face of death and suffering," the top-selling *** Yediot Aharonot *** daily reflected Monday.

"Will we wait for a mega-terror attack, or perhaps for Saddam Hussein's biological warfare to restore to us our sensitivity?" The left-leaning *** Haaretz *** was less introspective and lashed out at Sharon's administration for its apparent inability to take coherent action against Palestinian martyr operations.

"Everyone is acting as if suicide bombings only started a few weeks ago. Even though the suicide bomber has been with us for years, Israeli officials are busy with their tiresome discussion about which special measures are needed in this war," military analyst Zeev Schiff said.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party who recently stalked out of Sharon's coalition, lambasted the premier.

"He has utterly failed. Before the elections, the man promised peace and security. There is no peace; there is no security," he told Army Radio.

"Therefore, from my standpoint, the man should take (foreign minister Shimon) Peres with him, walk hand in hand, find an appropriate old age home and remove themselves as fast as possible," he added.