Radicals On The Rise

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    The arithmetic is simple: when Palestinians lose faith in the peace process, the popularity of Hamas rises. Its fundamentalist hard core is still small, but it attracts sympathizers disillusioned by the failure of everything else. Most Palestinians do not buy Hamas' call to exterminate Israel or make their longed-for state a strict Islamic one. But most now embrace its suicide bombings as the only means they have left to resist an unremitting occupation. The question is whether that newfound popularity is just a flirtation or a permanent change of heart.

    No matter what Arafat may do, Hamas remains a danger to everyone engaged in the Middle East. Sheik Yassin can be shut up in his house for a while; hundreds of rank and file can be made to serve jail time. Even the zeal that drives Hamas to kill civilians may be tamped down for a time. But never, it seems, for good. Already, sources in the Hamas military wing tell TIME, somewhere in a Hamas safe house, militants inflamed by the American war in Afghanistan are debating whether it is time to add U.S. targets in Israel and the territories to their hit list.

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