Violence has surged between Israelis and Palestinians this month, with suicide bombings by Palestinian militants and Israeli strikes against the Palestinians.

Israel launched a military operation in the centre of the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday last week in which three Palestinians, including a Hamas member, were killed.

Israel's Nablus operation followed United States President George W. Bush's expression of support for Israel's right to defend itself and his condemnation of the bombing attack on Wednesday last week by Palestinian militants at a cafeteria in the students centre of Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

Hamas claimed responsibility for Hebrew University attack but said it was in revenge for the July 23 air strike in Gaza city that killed its military commander and 14 other Palestinians, including nine children.

The blast in Hebrew University was the first of its kind on a university campus since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began. It caused the death of seven students, including five foreign students, and wounded nearly 100 others.

Israel launched more attacks this week.

The events demonstrate that the cycle of violence between the two nations is far from being at an end although the Palestinians tentatively gave initial approval on Wednesday to Israel's "Gaza first" plan for phased withdrawals from some Palestinian areas if the Palestinians crack down on militants.

Also on Wednesday, Palestinian Cabinet ministers headed for the first high-level US-Palestinian talks since US President Bush called in June for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to be sidelined.

The resumption of senior-level contacts has been welcomed in the hope it will boost flagging international efforts to staunch 22 months of bloodshed since the Palestinians rose against Israeli occupation in September 2000.

However, the initial talks on Israel's "Gaza first" plan broke off on Thursday as the distrust between the two sides appeared greater than ever and old differences resurfaced over how to move negotiations forward.

Israel reneged on a commitment to pull out of Bethlehem if the Gaza withdrawal went smoothly.

Palestinians feared that the proposal would be a "Gaza only" plan, with the army still sitting tight in the seven West Bank cities it has reoccupied since June.

Mark Sofer, an adviser to the Israeli foreign minister, said the talks between the two sides were not dead. But violence erupted again as Israeli tanks invaded the Gaza Strip village of Beit Lahiya.

Since the latest Palestinian uprising for independence began in September 2000 after peace talks stalled, more than 1,400 Palestinians and 585 Israelis have been killed.

The current situation has several times been brought to the brink of being out of control.

Attacks by Palestinian extremists against unarmed civilians and Israel's military operations, which further spark hostility, impede international efforts to revive the peace process in the region.

Any form of abuse of force and violence can only contribute to the escalation of the already tense situation and dim the hope of a peaceful solution to the long-standing conflict.

The logic of an eye for an eye can bring no prospect for peace.

(China Daily August 10, 2002)