The victims were mainly girls and young women waiting to enter a night club on Tel Aviv's Meditteranean seafront - the epicenter of an Israel that has so far maintained some distance from the Palestinian uprising, or intifada. That evening and early Saturday morning Palestinians evacuated buildings and areas they anticipated might be the target of Israeli reprisal raids. The Israeli Cabinet, which hasn't met on the Jewish sabbath since the Gulf War, convened to discuss what to do. The statement was the most unequivocal call for calm so far from Arafat, and may have stilled the Israelis' inclination to avenge the bombing. There was no formal statement or address to the nation, but Israeli officials indicated that Sharon's government would wait to assess whatever concrete steps Arafat might take.
Skepticism reigns on both sides.
It will not be implemented, because this kind of cease-fire is diplomatic speech. Israel's copious security presence in the Palestinian territories, which mixes seige and occupation, has only worsened since the intifada began. The cease-fire has brought little or no reduction in that presence. Words from Arafat, he says, will not be enough. The bloody attack, which brought the number of dead on the Israeli side to 108 in this intifada, creates a perverse moment in which Arafat's call for a cease-fire is more palatable to Palestinians than it might otherwise be.