Cease-fire collapses as reprisals pick up pace

The settlements, built in contravention of international law on occupied territory, are to be frozen in the event a cease-fire endures and steps toward negotiations begin in accordance with the recommendations of a US-led fact-finding committee, the Mitchell Report.

"If you look at this cycle, it is naïve to think it is accidental," says Akiva Eldar, a Haaretz columnist. "Whenever Arafat is arresting people and terrorism is reduced, Sharon takes some action. Sharon wants to stave off any attempt to bring him and Arafat to the same table. He believes this is a zero-sum game and that there is no place for two peoples.

"His idea is that if we show enough resilience, the Palestinians will disappear as a national entity or pack their belongings and go somewhere else. His goal is not only to keep the settlements in place, but to finish off the Oslo agreement and get rid of the PLO."

Didi Remez, a spokesman for Peace Now, says Sharon is intent on "destroying the very infrastructure of Israel's relations with the [Palestinian Authority] and the PA itself."

Mr. Remez that the army and far-right elements in the government are likely to bring about the reoccupying of the Palestinian cities in the West Bank. "Sharon is proceeding very wisely. A few months ago, invading Tulkarem would have created bells and whistles, but he has been moving incrementally, rather than through drastic moves. You don't notice things day by day, but when you compare with the situation of a few months ago, the change is drastic."

Yuval Steinitz, a Likud member of the Knesset, says it is the Palestinians who have escalated the conflict. "The question is not who started this round of violence, but who started the violence, a year and a half ago," he says.

"For eight years we have seen vicious circles of violence on and off. Arafat wants to continue the mutual bleeding, cause a deterioration in Israel's position in the world and bring an end to the Jewish state. To achieve this, he is sophisticated enough to increase and reduce the violence."

The weapons ship which the Israeli navy seized several weeks ago is proof that Arafat has forged an alliance with Iran and was planning an escalation even as he spoke of a cease-fire, according to Israeli army chief of staff Shaul Mofaz. Mr. Mofaz told reporters Sunday night that "the Palestinians want escalation. There has been no strategic fight against terrorism and everything that was achieved in the two weeks of quiet was via understandings with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which at a certain point received instructions to resume their armed operations."

Mr. Steinitz, an ally of former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, argues that Sharon has not been tough enough on the Palestinians. "Sharon is doing well in certain respects, but Israel should occupy the Palestinian cities one by one and itself dismantle the terror infrastructure, including from Arafat's forces, and collect all the illegal weapons."

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