After the carnage in Gaza City Palestinian factions are united in vengeance. It may be what Ariel Sharon wants, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem On Wednesday morning the Israeli government woke to a chorus of international disapproval for its bombing of a residential quarter in Gaza City that left 15 Palestinians dead, including Hamas military leader Salah Shehada, the intended victim of the strike. The denunciations included a rare rebuke from Washington. "The president has said before Israel has to be mindful of the consequences of its actions to pursue the path of peace and believes this heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Tuesday. Nor was the spokesman overly pleased with Israeli officials attempts to downplay its "collateral damage" in Gaza by comparing it with the considerably larger civilian damage caused by American air strikes in Afghanistan. The bombing in Gaza "was a deliberate attack on the site, knowing that innocents would be lost as a consequence", snapped Fleischer, peevishly. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in their turn all condemned these "crimes committed against the Palestinian people", as did some in Israel. "It was a kind of act of terror," said leader of the opposition Meretz Yossi Sarid. "In the past few days a chance for calm was apparent. Hectic international efforts were made toward a cease-fire. But the [Israeli] government, not for the first time, appears not to be interested in quiet." But perhaps the most telling criticism came from the European Union's Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana. "This extra-judicial killing operation, which targeted a densely populated Palestinian area, comes at a time when both Israel and the Palestinians were working very seriously to curb violence and restore cooperative security arrangements. There were indications that a possible end to suicide bombings could be reached." Solana should know. Together with officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, he had been monitoring and encouraging discussions between the various Palestinian factions to declare a new cease-fire. By Tuesday -- just 90 minutes before the bomb slammed through the roof of Shehada's apartment -- an agreement was on the verge of being signed. According to Palestinian and diplomatic sources the new truce would initially involve militias linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement -- such as the Al-Aqsa Brigades -- declaring a moratorium on suicide attacks inside Israel. Hamas and Islamic Jihad would publicly support the declaration. Hamas, at least, had been preparing the ground. On Sunday, and again on Tuesday, Hamas political leaders Aziz Rantisi and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said their movement would stop killing Israeli civilians if Israel were to withdraw from the occupied West Bank cities, lift the sieges on the Palestinian areas, free recently-detained Palestinian prisoners and end the assassinations of Palestinian political and military leaders. "We will act for the sake of the higher national interests of the Palestinian people," said Rantisi on Sunday. After the assault on Gaza interests changed. Standing amid the rubble of Shehada's home, Rantisi said "Hamas retaliation will come very soon, and there won't just be one [attack]. After this crime, even Israelis in their homes will be the targets of our operations." Hamas's military arm, Ezzeddin Al-Qassam warned, would not "rest until the Zionists see human remains in every restaurant, bus, bus stop and street". The Al-Aqsa Brigades promised "soon to resume martyrdom operations" inside Israel. "We will hit everywhere, even their children, to make them understand how our children suffer," ran an Al-Aqsa statement on Tuesday. Islamic Jihad and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued similar vows of vengeance. Nor were there only vows. In the wake of the bombing mortars and rockets were fired at Jewish settlements within Gaza and Israeli towns beyond it and gunfire rattled through the occupied cities of Ramallah and Jenin. More -- and worse -- is almost certain to follow. Some Palestinians believe this is precisely what Ariel Sharon wants since fresh carnages in Israeli cities would keep the world off his back and Israeli tanks permanently within the re-conquered Palestinian cities. It may have even been his motive for choosing to assassinate Shehada. But few believe the Palestinian militias have the discipline to refuse the bait, including those cognizant of the "game". "A lot of moralities have been broken in this war," conceded Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab, prior to the killing of Shehada. "We have asked the world to protect the Palestinians, but the world says no. So there are no rules to the game, no limits and no borders. Yet the world wants the Palestinians to be moderate, to be moral."
