Ze’evi’s death could crank up violence

Palestinian militants this week did what has never been done before. For the first time in Israel's 53-year history they've assassinated a government minister.

Rehavam Ze'evi, 75, was a former general and a right-winger who often had harsh words for the Palestinians, including his most controversial remarks in July when he referred to Palestinians working and living illegally in Israel as "lice" and a "cancer" on its welfare system.

But as the Jewish state's current tourism minister, Ze'evi had nothing to do with military strikes against Palestinians during the intifada.

Prior to his assassination Wednesday there was an unwritten rule that senior members of the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority would not be targeted for an assassination.

That rule has now been broken -- but not unexpectedly.

Israel's policy of targeted killings of top Palestinian terrorists was bound to result in some kind of retaliation such as Ze'evi's murder.

The U.S. government had been urging Israel to abandon those assassinations, but how could Israel take such warnings seriously after Sept. 11 when the Bush administration targeted Osama bin Laden and his followers? A State Department spokesman did, however, renew requests this week, saying the two countries' issues were not parallel.

Our immediate concern is how much more violence will be wrought in the Middle East as a result of Ze'evi's murder. Israel will certainly retaliate, and probably some Palestinian organization will return the favor.

For now, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said there will be no talks with the Palestinians until terrorism is halted. But that isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned Ze'evi's murder. But Sharon holds him responsible for not preventing it.

We have no idea if Arafat has control of the more violent Palestinian elements. We also can't be sure that he isn't privately approving terrorist acts only to deny them after the fact.

But the bottom line is that whether or not we can trust Arafat, there is no one else for Israel to negotiate with. And until serious talks are conducted, both sides will suffer the death of more innocents.