The Terror Twins

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Soon after the Hamas attack, Israel launched its biggest incursion into Palestinian-controlled territory, taking over for a day a swath of Beit Hanoun, a town in the Gaza Strip from which the mortars had been fired. Inside his Cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced criticism that he moved into Beit Hanoun without consulting other ministers. "No, no, we couldn't convene the Cabinet," Sharon said, brushing aside the critics. "I phoned a few ministers though." Sharon didn't phone his Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, until the operation was under way. Bypassing the elder statesman left Sharon diplomatically exposed and unable to fend off the anger of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned of the "risk of broader conflict" in the Middle East.

The Tehran meeting, at the very least, will make it still harder for Arafat and Sharon to find any way to put an end to the violence. After all, it will be a conclave of leaders who suspect Arafat of wanting to find a face-saving way to end the intifadeh by pushing Sharon into an attack--which in turn would claim a large number of Palestinian lives and thus prompt international intervention to separate the two sides, something Israel opposes. But even if Hizballah and Hamas don't bury the hatchet, their knives are still out for Israel.