Ze'ev Schiff

Syria is pressing Hamas and Islamic Jihad to renew their suicide operations against Israel, contrary to Saudi Arabian demands on Yasser Arafat and Palestinian organizations to desist from such attacks.

Demands said to include dismantling Hezbollah, disclosing information on missing Israelis.

The leaked reports that caused the delay of a military campaign in the Gaza Strip following the suicide bombing at a pool hall in Rishon Letzion will have an affect on the future of the security cabinet, especially the content and timing of its discussions.

Israel's intelligence services are still trying to determine where the suicide bomber who killed 16 people in Rishon Letzion last night came from.

With the return of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell from Beirut and Damascus, it appears he gave warnings to everyone in the region, including Israel, regarding the current conflict.

The fight in the Jenin refugee camp was decided yesterday even though by nightfall, the shooting was not completely over. The victory came with a heavy cost to the IDF - more than 20 fighters - reservists and conscripts - paid with their lives.

In order to assist Powell's mission to the region and respond to Bush's repeated calls on Israel to withdraw without delay, Israel has taken the first step in withdrawing its forces from two West Bank towns.

Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat evaded accepting U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni's bridging proposal for a cease-fire when the two met yesterday. He insisted his close aides must first be brought to his compound so they could advise him on the American proposal.

The coming 24 hours are critical both regarding the cities the IDF chooses to enter to capture terrorist suspects and arms, and the approval that may be required for operations the army has up to now not used in the campaign.

Although political leaders have been talking about a military operation of several weeks in the territories, the political-military "sand clock" may turn out to be considerably shorter.

Have we reached the peak of Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians? The answer is a resounding no. The Palestine Liberation Organization showed the extreme levels it can reach during the civil war in Lebanon when its terror actions reached the level of massacres, destroying Beirut and Lebanon.

Zinni's past efforts show that the American initiative lacks a serious monitoring system on the ground - a system that would be able to determine, almost in real time, whether Israel and the PA were really doing what they claimed.

Regardless of who exactly the assailants were on the northern road near Kibbutz Metzuba - Palestinians from the territories or Palestinians linked to Hezbollah in Lebanon - it's clear that whoever sent them to this area was trying to open a second front in the North.

The Israel Defense Forces' widescale offensive against Palestinian militias, which are led by the Tanzim, is not over yet and will continue at least until the arrival of U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni.

What happened to cause Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to suddenly waive his long-standing demand for seven days of quiet before the start of negotiations on a cease-fire?

The main problem faced by Israel's government is not whether to renew the siege on Arafat's office in Ramallah. It is, of course, the daily casualties (particularly to the civilian population) caused by Palestinian attacks in Israel.

One of most stinging and bizarre fiascoes of the Israel Defense Forces' current military campaign against the Palestinians took place yesterday morning at an army checkpoint north of Ofra, near Ramallah.

The war of attrition between Israel and the militant Palestinian organizations is escalating. This can be seen, on the one hand, through Israel's penetration of two major refugee camps, Balata near Nablus and Nur a-Shams near Jenin, and on the other, by continued Palestinian suicide attacks within Israel.

The massive military operation undertaken yesterday morning in two West Bank refugee camps is a new move which the Israel Defense Forces has refrained from taking until now.