The assassination yesterday of the Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israeli forces under the express direction of the prime minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, is a dangerous and wilful escalation of the conflict with the Palestinians.
It will have dire consequences for the safety of Israeli civilians and the stability of the Middle East. It is indeed "unacceptable, unjustified and very unlikely to realise its objectives", as the British foreign secretary, Mr Jack Straw, put it yesterday. The Israeli opposition leader, Mr Shimon Peres, made this further point: "I don't think we can eliminate terrorism by wiping out leaders".
The twisted logic behind this piece of state terrorism is related to Mr Sharon's plan to withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza. It is a very costly occupation, with little strategic purpose and he believes it would be a suitable gesture to satisfy international opinion, especially that of the United States, that he is seriously interested in making peace. He has come under heavy political pressure from right-wing members of his coalition not to withdraw in such a way as to allow Hamas and other Palestinian organisations resisting Israeli occupation to claim a victory.
According to this reasoning the assassination will demonstrate Israel's continuing power and enable more moderate forces to fill the political vacuum, backed up by Arab states which are to meet in Tunis next weekend. Mr Sharon is also under pressure to extract concessions from the United States linked to a withdrawal from Gaza. He hopes to avoid as much as possible dealing with the "quartet" group involving the US, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, showing the Israeli public he is not bowing to international pressure.
Such calculations take far too little account of the horrifying price that will probably now be paid in retaliatory suicide bombings and other atrocities against Israeli civilian targets. So much is this so that it seems part of Mr Sharon's purpose to drive up the security frenzy in order to justify a more prolonged war. That is what he and his cabinet, and much of the Israeli public, believe they are engaged in with Hamas and other organisations which have launched repeated attacks against Israeli citizens. But it is perverse to take an action that is only likely to increase such terrorism. It smothers the other strong current in Israeli opinion, which seeks a peace settlement and is willing to accept a negotiated withdrawal from the occupied territories to get it. The assassination will have the same polarising effect on the Palestinian side.
This latest escalation of the conflict underlines its potential to destabilise the Middle East region and strengthen organisations responsible for the lethal bombing attacks in Madrid on March 11th. The time has surely come for decisive action to internationalise the search for peace.
That will require much more resolute action and pressure from those involved in the quartet group than they have so far mounted.