Hamas has replaced Sheikh Yassin with Aziz Al-Rantissi, who dons the mantle of the supreme commander. Thus the long cherished dream of Yassir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation of a negotiated peace settlement with Israel lies in tatters. For more than a year now Arafat is virtually under house arrest in Ramallah and has become a leader whose time has passed. Ahmed Qorei, the Prime Minister, is keeping the seat warm. Thanks to the continued Israeli escalation in occupied territories, a dangerous vacuum has been created in the leadership. To call Sharon a leader would be a terrible misnomer since his only preoccupation seems to be the extermination of Palestinians and sow hatred all around.

For this grim state of Affairs, if one person has to be blamed, that is US President George W Bush. For suicide bombings the Palestinian youth, he has routinely condemned Palestinian leadership forgetting to go at the root of the problem. He has not bothered to enquire what kind of despair propelled the Palestinian youth to select self-destruction rather than continue to live in the ignominy of foreign occupation.

The assassination of Sheikh Yassin is now before the Security Council of the UN. The lone Arab member Algeria is holding out for a resolution condemning Israel for the deliberate murder of this venerated leader. Since the US has become famous for vetoing resolutions condemning Israel, we can be pretty certain that President Bush will not back down from this path.

Under President Bush US Middle East policy has undergone a sea change. Gone are the days of even handed policy of President Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Crater is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for engineering the Camp David Accord between Egypt and Israel in 1979. President Clinton brought within a whisker of settlement the Israel- Palestine dispute during his 8-year Presidency. Had the two leaders -- Yassir Arafat of Palestine and Ehud Barak of Israel -- could show the degree of courage to take a decision on compromise on the holy city of Jerusalem, we would have witnessed today the breeze of peace in place of the hatred of war.

From the march of events it appears that Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon is bent upon eliminating the Palestinians from the face of the earth. He seems to be seized by a kind of madness. It is useful to recall that Sharon was elected replacing Ehud Barak, who failed to deliver peace to his war weary nation. Sharon came to the scene by promising security to his nation tired of terrorist attacks. Sharon decided to smash the Palestinians. In the process he has got more hatred and more bloodshed than he had bargained. He has launched his massive firepower including air power against hapless Palestinian civilians. In return Palestinians have gone for suicide attacks on a large scale. In fact more Israelis have died and been maimed during the regime of Sharon than ever before. In fact Sharon, who basks in the protection of President Bush, can best be described as a war criminal. In the early eighties he launched large scale murderous spree in two Palestinian settlements -- Shabra and Shatila. Thus Sharon believes in strong arm tactics.

Ariel Sharon by his target killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has raised tension to the breaking point. Alas! We can expect further escalation of violence. It would be unrealistic to expect any improvement of the situation. If anything the escalation of violence is bound to continue before it becomes any better.

The only silver lining is the forthcoming Presidential elections in November 2004. The latest observance of the anniversary of US attack on Iraq and protest demonstrations around the world have demonstrated that how keenly they are watching the US Presidential elections. And if they had a vote the chances were that they would vote against President Bush. The US has such an overwhelming role in the world and particularly the Palestine-Israel dispute that for any hopeful development we have to hope of a change at the White House.

Arshad-uz Zaman is a former Ambassador.