AL QUDS: Israeli Apache helicopters over Gaza City launched missiles again on Tuesday in a bid to kill more Hamas militants. This time the missiles missed their target, three Hamas men travelling in a car, but the explosions killed a 65-year-old bystander and injured 20 others.

The failed assassination attempt was the third such operation by Israel in just five days. It is part of the latest tit-for-tat round of bloodletting in the Middle East that has ended a temporary truce declared by Palestinian militants.

The violence threatens to accelerate the demise of moderate Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and to devour the US-backed roadmap for peace.

Arafat appealed to militant groups on Wednesday to return to ceasefire. “President Yasser Arafat calls on all groups and parties to commit themselves...to the ceasefire to give a chance to all peaceful international efforts for the implementation of the roadmap,” a statement from his office said.

But Arafat accused Israel of “escalating” attacks against Palestinian militants. And it was not certain how far militant groups would heed the call in the face of continuing Israeli attacks.

On Sunday, Israeli helicopters attacked a car in Gaza, killing four Hamas men. The previous week, Israel assassinated Ismail Abu Shanab, one of the most senior Hamas leaders, prompting militant groups to call off the truce they had declared on June 29.

The Israeli aerial strikes came after one of the worst suicide bomb attacks since the start of the Intifadah, when a Palestinian blew himself up on a packed bus on Aug 19, killing 21 Israelis, several of them children, and wounding over 100. Palestinian militants said the attack was revenge for the killing of a colleague in Hebron by Israeli troops.

Few Israelis and Palestinians believed that the temporary truce — hudna in Arabic — would endure. Now, after a four-week hiatus, the cycle of violence that has beset the region for almost three years has returned with crushing predictability.

The Israeli government says violence never really went away. Ministers point to shootings during the time the hudna was in effect, and to attempts by Hamas and other militant groups to reorganize and rearm under cover of the ceasefire.

“There was a drop in violence but there was never an absolute ceasefire,” Shalom Harari, former adviser on Palestinian affairs at the Israel Defence Ministry told IPS. “There were 250 violent incidents during the time the hudna was in effect.”

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday he was ready to take action against militants if Israel ceased targeting them. “I am prepared to implement the law (against militants) on condition Israel stops its attacks,” he said.

But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who dismisses the Palestinian leader as the architect of terror, says the Palestinian Authority has failed to crack down on armed groups as the roadmap requires it to do, and so Israel has to do the job.

Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon has announced that “every member of Hamas is a potential target for liquidation.”

Israel also has considerable forces deployed along the Gaza border. Israel pulled out many of its troops after the hudna went into effect, but a major invasion of the Strip appears unlikely for now, especially with the US pressing Israel to show some restraint. A massive military operation in Gaza, which would almost certainly exact a high civilian toll, would bury the roadmap.

The Bush administration has also reiterated to Sharon that Arafat is not to be harmed. Demands to deport the Palestinian leader were heard again after the Jerusalem suicide attack.

The US has publicly backed Israel’s insistence that the Palestinian Authority move against groups like Hamas, and has countenanced Israel’s policy of targeting militant leaders. After the killing of Abu Shanab, US officials told Palestinian minister for security affairs Mohammed Dahlan that Israel’s assassination of Hamas leaders could not be an excuse for him to refrain from disarming militants.

Dahlan did order his forces to close some of the underground tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza, but he has not ordered a major crackdown. Like Prime Minister Abbas, he believes a negotiated truce with groups like Hamas is preferable to a violent confrontation, which the two fear could precipitate civil war.

Palestinian leaders argue that Israel’s continued military operations in the West Bank during the hudna, including the arrest of militants, contributed to the demise of the truce. A relentless assault on Hamas leaders, they say, will only make sure it cannot be revived.

Abbas was in Gaza on Wednesday where he was hoping to meet Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders, many of whom have gone underground for fear of being targeted. Abbas wants them to reinstate the hudna, but Hamas has vowed retribution. The spiritual leader of the movement, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, says Israel will “pay the price” for killing members of his group.

Abbas, who is seen by many of his people as a US-imposed appointment, is fast running out of domestic political capital. He had hoped the achievement of truce would lead to calm, which would win him points in Washington, put pressure on Israel to make concessions, and give him the chance to reorganize Palestinian security forces and other government institutions.

But he has failed to extract substantial concessions from Sharon, and they are unlikely to be forthcoming now the violence has returned. “Until the Palestinians deal seriously with terror groups, there will be no progress on the diplomatic front,” says Harari. :Sharon may ease some of the restrictions on the Palestinians, but he will certainly not go to phase two of the roadmap.”

Abbas’s ongoing showdown with Arafat, especially over his demand to unify Palestinian security forces, has further destabilized his government. Arafat’s decision earlier this week to appoint Jibril Rajoub, a former West Bank security chief as his national security adviser, is part of a crucial battle over control of the Palestinian security forces.

Abbas and Dahlan have demanded that all forces be placed under a central command, arguing this is a vital prerequisite for confronting militant groups. But Arafat has been reluctant to relinquish control of key units, and the appointment of Rajoub, who has said he would be involved in “reform” of the security apparatus, indicates that Arafat is not about to relent.

The resurgence of violence and the political instability within the Palestinian Authority have increased predictions of the Palestinian premier’s political demise. If he goes, it could signal the end of the roadmap as well.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.