The Economist reported this week that the PLO had agreed to unconditionally stop suicide bombings, and the document announcing this was due to be released the same day that Israel dropped its bomb on the residential area. Israel had been goven a draft, which had been prpared in co-ordination with the Europeans. This was in addition to Hamas's offer to stop suicide bombings, on certain (difficult) conditions.

Two things come out of this:

1. Sharon's hardline policy almost got results. This surprises me, but it seems to have worked.

2. Despite this, either there was a terrible blunder in dropping that bomb, or Sharon did it calculating that it would spoil prospects for peace.