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Jerusalem - Just three days before the bombings, thousands of supporters of the militant Islamic organization Hamas gathered in the West Bank town of Qalqilya, vowing enthusiastically to continue their war against Israel.
Dressed all in white, a procession of several dozen would-be suicide bombers marched through the streets, under the eyes of Palestinian police officers. Armed gunmen in black face masks trampled an Israeli flag and burned a mock bus that was labeled "Dizengoff No. 5," in celebration of the October, 1994, bombing in Tel Aviv that killed 22 people.
"The greatest revenge," they shouted dramatically for the TV cameras, "is yet to come."
But today, less than a week later, the rally no longer seems theatrical. On Sunday, the Izzedin al-Qassem brigades, the military wing of Hamas, ended six months of relative quiet with back-to-back bombings that killed 27 people and wounded another 80.
In an instant, the new attack dramatically changed the course of events in the Middle East, throwing into question both the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the upcoming Israeli elections and pitting Prime Minister Shimon Peres against the shadowy suicide bombers of Hamas.
The following day, Peres went on the offensive.
"The parents of suicide terrorists will yet realize that murderers have no god and will receive no reward," said Peres in an angry speech to the Knesset attacking the "lunatics" of Hamas. "There are no limitations, and we will impose no limitations on the pursuit of terrorists, the punishment of those who dispatch them, or the destruction of their cells."
But behind the tough talk, sources say, Peres was worried. Six months without a bombing had put him in a strong political position, convincing many people that the peace process might actually be leading toward peace. Just...