OxBlog

# Posted 7:47 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

HAMAS LEADER SLAIN (YES, AGAIN): Last night, an Israeli missile strike took the life of Abdelaziz Rantisi, the leader of Hamas. I don't think anyone is going to miss Rantisi, who was a hardened terrorist devoted to the total destruction of the State of Israel. But was this a good time for Israel to lash out at Hamas? Will Hamas respond with a wave of suicide bombings?

These are, of course, the exact same questions that we all asked one month ago when Israeli missiles ended the life of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. Back then, the NYT wrote that

Hamas will now redouble its efforts to send human torpedos into Israel. The Palestinian Authority will be even less inclined to confront terrorists in its midst and less able to coax Hamas into observing a cease-fire.

At the time, OxBlog shared the expecation that Hamas would hit back hard, but despondently observed that

After all, what is the difference if the bombers detonate themselves this week in honor of Yassin rather than next week in honor of someone else?

Well, as it turns out, OxBlog was wrong. Neither Hamas nor Fatah was able to retaliate with a major strike. My guess is that this kind of failure on their part only encouraged the Israelis to follow through on their plans for more targeted killings. Moreover, the targeted killings certainly didn't deter the Bush administratrion from coming out strongly in favor of Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan.

What all this adds up to, I guess, is a strong incentive for Israel to continue with the targeted killings. Not a pleasant thought, but with no prospects for a negotiated settlement, violence is all that we can really expect. I'm also going to guess that most of the American media will raise the same objections to the killings that they did the last time around. But if neither Bush nor Sharon listened then, why listen now?

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