Israel's deadly air strike on a Hamas office in the northern West Bank town of Nablus on Tuesday has had serious negative fall-out which could produce a further escalation of violence. Ironically, the Israeli attack has made it almost impossible for the Palestinian Authority to act against Hamas activists.
The raid raised Palestinian anger to a fever pitch because two boys, aged 8 and 10, were killed. The senior Hamas officials who died, Mr Jamal Mansour and Mr Jamal Selim, had organised welfare and health programmes benefiting impoverished West Bankers.
Hamas promptly pledged to exact retribution, forcing Israel to declare a "Revenge Alert". On Wednesday, Palestinian officers boycotted a meeting with US and Israeli security officials.
Palestinian police are now hunting collaborators accused of helping Israel to assassinate Palestinian activists. As a result, the number of shooting and mortar attacks against Israelis has multiplied.
Indeed, police dare not intervene in operations staged by militants emboldened by popularity. Last week there was a shoot-out between police and guerrillas in Gaza and an attack on the home of a top-ranking Palestinian security official after four men were detained while preparing to launch mortars at an Israeli target. This week, such clashes and detentions are almost unthinkable.
The Fateh movement loyal to the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, responded to the Nablus raid by calling on the Palestinian Authority to release all those detained for carrying out operations against Israel. Castigated for impotence, the standing of the Authority has been further eroded and that of the 13-faction Popular Resistance Committees has been boosted.
While the search for collaborators has set one Palestinian against another and given rise to a flood of unsubstantiated accusations, undermining Palestinian solidarity, it has also made it impossible for Palestinians to have contacts with Israelis without being branded as traitors. In Nablus, a number of persons have been detained and four convicted collaborators have been sentenced to death.