A spate of suicide attacks directed at Israeli targets-three in the space of a week-likely prompted President George W. Bush to warn that the US would move against Palestinian groups Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jehad. "Some governments will be timid in the face of terror," he said. "If they do not act, America will." That was before Palestine Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement had claimed responsibility for the January 30 attack in northern Israel.

In the roller-coaster hope-despair ride the West Asia peace process has proved to be, this new low comes after a rather optimistic high was sounded by Arafat's call for a cease-fire on December 16. Not long before, on October 14, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, canvassing for Arab help for the war in Afghanistan, had expressed support for the creation of a Palestinian state. For a bit, there was calm. Then a Palestinian wanted by the Israeli Government was assassinated. On January 9, Hamas pulled out of the cease-fire and killed four Israeli soldiers. The violence has built up since, and Arafat, who had initiated the current round of peace negotiations in 1993, became a target of attack by the Ariel Sharon Government which is perceived as hardline. His headquarters have been attacked and he himself is effectively a prisoner.

Yet, pushing Arafat into a deep hole was an unlikely first step towards a settlement to the Palestine issue. Israel's position-that Arafat must bring to justice over 100 people wanted by it-was too tall an order. There is no obvious alternative to his leadership. The US-whose stated interests in the region are said to be enhanced security for Israel and regional peace-seems to have joined its long-time ally in hoping, as Palestinian scholar Edward Said said, that the Palestinians would "perform an act of collective politicide".

-Samrat Choudhury

Against Holy Writ

A Hong Kong businessman who brought thousands of Bibles to a banned Christian group called "Shouters in China" has been sentenced to two years imprisonment. Lai Kwong-Keung was convicted by a court in the south eastern city of Fuqing of "illegal operation". He was trying to transport 33,080 copies of an unauthorised version of the Bible into China. The incident has embarrassed China, which is trying to crush independent religious activity but does not want to disrupt a visit next month by US President George W. Bush. Bush has already expressed concern about Lai, who was initially charged under anti-cult laws, which human-rights activists feared could carry a death penalty. Later the charges were reduced.

TERRORISM
US War Reaches Philippines

US President George Bush's mention of US forces battling terror in the Phillipines in his State of the Union address recently didn't generate much happiness there. Opposition groups in Phillipines oppose deployment of the US Army in the country, and the speech came at a time when the country's parliament was debating the constitutional legality of joint US-Phillipine military exercises.

Some 140 US troops are already in the country opening a new front in the war on terrorism. More are expected to join the operation to help the Philippine Army in its fight against the decade-old Islamic militant group, the Abu Sayyaf. The group, whose name means "Father of the Sword" in Arabic is notorious for its high-profile kidnappings in Philippines and Malaysia, and has been linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaida network. Its current hostages include two US missionaries. Like Al Qaida, it has its roots in the Afghan war against the former Soviet Union in the 1980s. The two groups are believed to have exchanged money, material and men in recent years.