OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: ISRAELI TERROR

Independent: A blow that may only strengthen Hamas

On one level, the strategy behind yesterday's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin is relatively easy to understand. The broad consensus is that it will escalate violence. The peace process is already completely blocked and Israel has shown that it is in no mood to negotiate as it proceeds with plans unilaterally to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

If the attack showed anything, it is that the US-inspired "road-map" has no meaning. It has already been eclipsed by Israeli annexation of chunks of occupied territory with its controversial fence. Meanwhile, President George Bush has found more pressing affairs to attend to as the US election campaign grinds on.

Bitterly controversial though the assassination may be in the eyes of world opinion, the steps which made it likely were taken at an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, after the suicide bombing which killed 10 Israeli civilians at the port of Ashdod. Responsibility for this was claimed jointly by Hamas and the Al Aqsa Brigades, linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah, eight days ago.