TERRORISTS WAITING IN WINGS

"Militants" Hold Key to Mideast Peace - Anna Badkhen
Organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad do not consider themselves bound by the truce, although they have scaled back significantly on their attacks. Analysts attribute the apparent about-face to a combination of factors: the groups' willingness to partake in the Palestinian political process; their hope for getting new concessions from Israel and the Palestinian leadership; and the success of Israel's targeting of their key figures, which has decimated the leadership of the radical movement.

Yet the Palestinian territories are "saturated with laboratories that make explosives, and quite a few of them are still active," noted a senior Israeli military official, who said military intelligence suggested that Hamas was continuing to smuggle weapons through tunnels that connect Gaza with Egypt. "Hamas is probably gearing up for the next round of attacks as we speak," she said.

Abbas has said he wants to bring extremists into mainstream Palestinian politics, something Michael Oren, an expert at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, says militants groups find appealing. Hamas and Islamic Jihad may be willing to agree to a temporary truce - but their concessions will most likely stop there, Oren said. "Don't misinterpret (the temporary quiet) as a sea change in the world view of Hamas and Islamic Jihad," he said. "Hamas and Islamic Jihad cannot accept the existence of Israel as a permanent legitimate state in the Middle East; their goal is to destroy it. They are not going to give up their guns." (San Francisco Chronicle)