This will be one of the most complicated tests facing Sharon. The agreement must still be approved by both parties' central committees, but it clears the way for the formation of a unity government, considered crucial to Sharon's political stability. Osnat Sasson, center, the widow of a slain Jewish settler, mourns with their children at the start of his West Bank funeral procession. The issue of settlements is especially emotional for many Jews, who feel entitled to the West Bank, regarded as part of the biblical Land of Israel. But for Palestinians, the West Bank is the core of their future independent state, and Jewish settlers are one of the most hated elements of Israeli occupation.
Palestinian militias consider settlers a fair target.
The downfall of Sharon and his settlements is our goal and the goal of our bullets and our resistance. Violence has escalated steadily since Sharon's landslide election a week ago. On Monday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians in separate incidents, and battles raged late into the night between Palestinian gunmen in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and Israeli troops guarding the Jewish settlement block of Gush Katif. In a separate incident, an Israeli Arab, Atef Nabulsi of Jerusalem, was killed when soldiers opened fire on his van at a roadblock near the West Bank city of Ramallah. In addition to agreeing on settlements, the two parties agreed that the new government would forgo reaching a comprehensive peace treaty with the Palestinians.