The battles at Beit Hanoun, and especially the siege on Friday on the Al-Nassr Mosque in Beit Hanoun, will probably become another founding legend in the Palestinian narrative of the second intifada.

Children in the territories will hear in the years to come the story of the wondrous rescue operation, like the stories of the battle in the Jenin refugee camp and the siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. They will hear how dozens of women went out to the mosque, dressed the 60 militants hiding in it in dresses and veils and extracted them from the Israeli siege.

The drama will demonstrate how the civilian population can be mobilized to rescue its "protectors." Every debate on the role of the Palestinian woman in the intifada will raise the battle story as an example of the women's part in the national struggle.

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But nobody (at least until the appearance of the first post-Palestinian historian) will ask why dozens of women risked their lives for a group of armed gunmen, who are directly responsible for the catastrophe taking place in Beit Hanoun. The problem is not merely on the Palestinian side. In Israel, too, many are asking what good the military operation is doing.

It is clear that the Qassam rocket fire is not subsiding. At best, it may be reduced. The number of Palestinian fatalities in the operation has exceeded 40, but the terror organizations' resolve to persist in firing rockets at Sderot has not wavered.

The killing in the Gaza Strip is out of proportion to any losses on the Israeli side. Perhaps these figures undermine the goal of the Israel Defense Forces, wishing to prepare the ground in a few months for a much larger operation, this time in the south of the Strip, against the arms smuggling tunnels in Rafah.

The defense minister and chief of staff took time out from their bickering over the appointments in the IDF and came together to the Gaza division's headquarters Friday to monitor the operation's achievements. Amir Peretz and Dan Halutz expressed satisfaction.

Senior Southern Command officers said the operation's main success is in the intelligence field.

Hamas had strengthened its military grip on Beit Hanoun recently, both in fortifications and in Qassam-launching networks. The operation is supposed to block this development. But in private conversations the officers admit that the chance of stopping the civilians' support for Hamas are slim.

In any case, the operation is expected to end in the next few days. The number of detainees that may be found will decrease and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to the United States, at the end of next week, will require pulling the troops out.

In the Palestinian arena, Israel managed to do for Hamas what it failed to do. The criticism from within of Ismail Haniyeh's government has died down. Hamas is once again leading the fighting, in the number of its fatalities as well. Hamas apparently led the "heroic" rescue operation from the mosque.

The IDF's operation may even end the school teachers' strike, which has been going on since September 1. Hamas was unable to stop it. The Palestinian civil war has been forgotten over the past week. Fatah's representatives in the Gaza Strip are totally busy fighting against Israel.

They repeatedly bring up the conspiracy theory - that the IDF and Hamas are cooperating by continuing the fighting. Thus, they say, Hamas remains in power, and Israel can continue to say it has no partner on the Palestinian side.

Meanwhile, 30,000 Beit Hanoun residents continue to live under siege  for the fifth day, with short respites. The IDF's liaison administration is trying to alleviate the civilians' suffering, but there is no running water in the taps because the IDF's bulldozers have damaged - perhaps by mistake - main water pipes, and the houses reek of sewage.

After more than six years of continuous fighting, neither side in the dispute appears to have given up the basic assumption at the beginning of the intifada. The Palestinians and Israelis are both still convinced that the other side understands only force.

The Gaza Strip's residents continue to protect the activists launching the Qassam rockets, although they have caused the Palestinians massive damage. They insisted on continuing the fire even after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in the disengagement.

On the other hand, every senior IDF officer is certain that he will be the first to sear into the Palestinian consciousness the realization that terror doesn't pay.