The explosion which took the lives of five children was not an accident. The death of these children on their way to school came hours after a commando raid by the Israeli army. The soldiers of the commando unit were sent there at night - as was alleged by Palestinian witnesses and assumed by Israeli radio and TV commentators. These young soldiers were probably told that they were fighting terrorism. But what is terrorism if not the placing of explosives on a spot near a refugee camp, where children every day pass on their way to school?
What makes the death of these children - all from one family - even more hair raising is that it came the day after Palestinian policemen were shown on Israeli television making in the same Gaza Strip enormous efforts to quell any possible violence. It was as if they said: look Mr Powell [US Secretary of State Colin Powell], we do our utmost to do as you asked. But how can they now calm down the masses of Khan Yunis refugee camp where the children came from? Already during the demonstration which erupted after the simultaneous funeral, another casualty, a 15-year-old Palestinian - maybe a stone-thrower - was shot dead by Israeli army fire.
This proves once more that only international monitoring can pave the way out of the circle of violence and counter-violence, revenge and counter-revenge. The sticking to the rules of the game has to be guarded by an arbiter as credible as can be found.