ISRAELIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BRACED for the blow. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas had vowed to take revenge for Israel's assassination two months ago of Yehia Ayyash--or "the Engineer," as he was known--the organization's master bombmaker. Yet when the fury burst forth, its savagery was stunning. First, in two explosions spaced 45 min. apart, Hamas suicide-bombers claimed 26 victims, first on a bus in Jerusalem, then at a hitchhiking post outside coastal Ashkelon. Then, exactly seven days later, the militants struck again, eviscerating another bus in central Jerusalem, this time killing at least 20.
It was by far the worst spasm...