THE Israeli government mantra was always that to halt the peace process was to give victory to Hamas, to play into the hands of the Islamic radicals. As the peace process essentially collapsed yesterday in the wake of the fourth suicide bombing in nine days, a small group of the most militant Hamas activists could surely taste that victory was theirs.
Israeli intelligence sources said last night that the four bombings in Jerusalem and Ashkelon on February 25th, in Jerusalem again on Sunday, and in Tel Aviv yesterday were masterminded by a small group of fanatics, headquartered in Gaza, drawing on the support of dozens of potential suicide bombers recruited at Hamas mosques in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Guided by an exiled Hamas leadership based in Damascus, the fanatical cell is believed to be headed by Mohammad Dif(30), a Gazan wanted for years by Israel on suspicion of commanding the Izzedin al Qassam military arm of Hamas.
If Dif is said to be the brains then Muhi Adin Sharif(28), a former resident of the village of Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem and an engineer by training, is thought to be the technician responsible for building the bombs that have proved so viciously effective in the past week and a half.
Sharif, too, has been on Israeli wanted lists for years. And part of Israel's anger with Yasser Arafat, for failing to take on the hard core of Hamas, derives from Israeli intelligence reports that Sharif was hiding out in the Arafat controlled area of Jericho until recently, and that the Palestinian security forces preferred not to arrest him.
To Israel's dismay, the Hamas ringleaders are having no difficulty recruiting human bombs to carry out the attacks inside Israel. Ami Ayalon, the new head of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency, briefed Knesset members yesterday to the effect that in the Hebron district refugee camp of Fawar alone where last week's Jerusalem and Ashkelon suicide bombers were recruited there no fewer than 40 more Palestinian youths waiting to be called into action.
Israeli troops yesterday all but invaded Fawar camp, searching homes and ordering all males over 16 to assemble in a school yard, questioning them one by one, and arresting dozens alleged to have helped the bombers.
That kind of military action was feasible for Israel because the Fawar camp is in an area of the West Bank still under Israeli control. Israel's fury at Mr Arafat is that he has failed to take similar steps in the Hamas strongholds of Gaza.
Even yesterday, Israeli military officials were claiming that the Palestinian Authority was engaged in mainly show arrests detaining dozens of low level Hamas members but failing to target the operation master minds, despite Israeli intelligence co-operation on their likely hideouts.
Highly publicised reports to this effect have heightened Israeli public disaffection with the peace for in general, and Mr Arafat in particular, and have boosted public support for aggressive Israeli action including the return of Israeli troops to regions recently handed over to Mr Arafat's control.
At the site of the latest Jerusalem bus blast, one poster yesterday urged that hard line former defence minister Ariel Sharon be appointed to "take care of terror". Gen Sharon, who led Israel's ill fated invasion of Lebanon in 1982, has always cautioned against trusting Mr Arafat to provide security for Israel, and has this week been loudly demanding an Israeli military return to Gaza.
That call was being echoed even by the most pragmatic and more moderate Israeli leaders, in government and opposition. Tel Aviv's Mayor Mr Ronnie Millo said "There's a limit to how much we can take."