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No End in Sight for This Long Battle

The fighting that has dragged on for months between Israelis and Palestinians took another ugly turn last week. On Wednesday, Israeli tanks and bulldozers flattened a neighborhood in a refugee camp in the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip. It was the first heavy military invasion since the violence began last September. Two Palestinians were killed, 25 were hurt, and hundreds were left homeless.

Israel says the attack was a response to Palestinian assaults on Jewish settlements. Since September, 64 Israeli Jews, 386 Palestinians and 19 others have been killed.

"All those who carry out terror attacks ... need to know they will not be able to live in peace," said Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. Sharon was elected in February after promising to deal firmly with Palestinian violence. U.S. ambassador Martin Indyk brought the rival sides together last Thursday to discuss a stop to the violence. But the meeting ended with no deal. "Obviously," said Philip Reeker of the U.S. State Department, "mortar attacks from one side and bulldozing of Palestinian homes by the other undermine serious, successful discussions."

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