Prime Minister Barak immediately telephoned Arafat to offer condolences and to repeat that it was a tragic, unintentional result of the raging violence. The savage lynch of two IDF reserve soldiers in Ramallah was a brutal reminder to all of us that human beings, fed by mob passions, can be reduced to animal-like behavior. Israel's retaliation included advance warnings to preclude loss of life. The IDF helicopter missile which destroyed the Ramallah police station entered the very same window out of which the soldier's body was thrown just hours before. The message was not lost on anyone.
Violence breeds death, retaliation, and more death.
The curse of the Middle East conflict. Violence and escalation of passions serve only the macabre interests of Arafat and will be used by him and his PR team as a negotiating strategy. Nachman Shai, the venerated army spokesman of the Gulf War, was reactivated to take charge of Israel's information campaign. There is no massacre of Palestinians going on. Israel is not an aggressor in this conflict.