JERUSALEM, April 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Defying U.S. calls of immediate pull back and UN Resolutions to the same effect, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed Monday to keep his troops on the West Bank allegedly to form buffer zones for Israel.

Sharon’s announcement may have killed a new U.S. peace-seeking mission by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who started his tour in Morocco Monday in a bid to keep the escalating conflict from spreading throughout the troubled Middle East.

Sharon claimed he tried repeatedly to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians but that their President Yasser Arafat instead waged a campaign of terrorism against the state of Israel, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Arafat has been holed up in Ramallah since early December last year, and has been holed up in the remains of his offices since Israel started reoccupying the Palestinian territories 11 days ago.

In a speech to parliament interrupted by shouts from angry Arab Israeli MPs, Sharon spurned calls to pull back his forces he sent in on March 29 and gave no date for any withdrawal.

"The operation is a temporary operation but the objectives have not yet been achieved," he said. "When the army finishes its mission, it will withdraw within designated security zones. In these zones our forces will be deployed as a buffer between the Palestinian territories and our territory," he said.

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN that the decision heralded "the end of the peace process, the end of the Oslo accords and the end of the Palestinian Authority."

"This will bring you no peace," Erakat said, in an appeal to the Israeli people to stop Sharon from going ahead. "This will bring you destruction."

Sharon's hard-hitting speech and Erakat's furious reply quickly darkened prospects for Powell's trip, as he arrived in Morocco for separate talks with King Mohammad VI and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, who is on vacation.

The prince drafted a bold peace proposal, endorsed by Arab nations on March 28, that would have normalized relations between the Arab world and Israel in exchange for a withdrawal from all occupied land.

Sharon refused and the invasion of the West Bank was launched the following day, March 29, one day after the Arabs declared their peace offer.

In another separately related development, the UN Security Council met Sunday for the fourth time in eight days to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and again demanded Israel's immediate withdrawal from the West Bank.

The Council issued a strong statement reminding the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships of their obligations under international law, reported BBC’s online news service.

It called for Israel to implement recent UN resolutions calling for both a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities and towns.

A statement made after an emergency session of the council on Sunday evening criticized the Israeli use of force during its incursions into the West Bank.

The Security Council has already issued two Resolutions in less than a week, 1402 and 1403, both calling on Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from the Palestinian cities and villages.