”From the defense establishment's perspective, last night's suicide bombing in Jerusalem was deadly proof of how the Palestinians perceive the hudna. From their perspective, not only is the Palestinian Authority free of responsibility from any tangible action against the terror organizations, which are being allowed to continue building up their forces, but now they will exact an immediate price - many Israeli dead – for Israeli action: For every incident in which the IDF kills a wanted man, quick revenge will result.

Last night, even before an official announcement was released, it was easy to guess that Islamic Jihad would take responsibility for the attack after vowing that it would avenge the killing of its leader Mohammed Sidr in Hebron last week.

Israel's goal in the upcoming week will be to break these new rules of the game and prevent a situation in which every attempted arrest of a wanted man that goes wrong brings the burned buses back to the streets of the country's major cities.

The government's immediate response last night was to freeze the talks with the Palestinians over a withdrawal from four West Bank cities. But there is no certainty that the freeze will last very long. It is reasonable to assume that Israel will try to use the attack to enlist the U.S. administration to pressure Abu Mazen and Mohammed Dahlan to finally confront the organizations. And then, after a few days of contacts, with American mediation, the incentive for the Palestinians, in exchange for implementation of Dahlan's "90 day plan" for fighting terrorism, will be, after all, handing over the cities…”