For those who have not lived within the dark shadow of their repression, the Israelis can seem unusually benign. Adroit manipulation of the international press and media is designed to present them as beleaguered victims, holding out bravely in an oasis of civilization in the middle of a hostile and dangerous Arab world. Time and again journalists and commentators, who should know better, buy this tatty spin and pass it on.

But sometimes there come acts of such meanness or savagery that all the Zionists spin doctors in the world cannot downgrade their awfulness. The gunning down of a cowering child, in front of one of the world’s best conflict photographers, was one instance where nothing the spin doctors could do lessened the international revulsion.

Now they have once again made a monumental mistake, this time in banning Yasser Arafat, as leader of the Palestinian Authority, from the Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem. President Arafat has in recent years made a point in attending these ceremonies. But this year, arguing that he has made insufficient efforts to crack down on terrorists, the Israelis sought to humiliate him, by keeping him bottled up in Ramallah.

The Israeli maneuver has backfired, and badly. Foreign governments, including those of the United States and most European countries as well as the pope, joined in a rising chorus of protest, which called for a last-minute reversal of the travel ban on Arafat. The Israelis did not, however, have the perception to see their mistake, and so stuck rigidly to their original decision.

The Israeli blunder was compounded by the fact that Islamic Jihad chose this moment to announce that it was following the example of Hamas, and suspending attacks against Israeli targets. Suddenly a large part of the program that Sharon’s government had been ordering Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to implement was put in place. A Sharon spokesman was left lamely defending the Arafat Bethlehem travel ban, by saying that the Israelis still wanted the Palestinian Authority to hand over militants responsible for specific attacks.

The options facing the hawkish Sharon regime are now very limited. If the truce sticks and if both groups can rein in any ultra-extremists within their own ranks, there will be no chance of another attack to give an excuse for Tel Aviv to boost its oppression in the occupied territories.

Sharon looks to be facing three options. He can order his security chiefs to bomb their own people and blame it on Palestinians. He can use every means in his power, such as banning Yasser Arafat from Bethlehem, to provoke the militants into abandoning their cease-fire. Or he can start to talk.

The last option is clearly the one which Sharon and his fellow hawks would least enjoy, but if the two militant groups maintain their suspension of violence, they may have little other option. Sharon has always made it clear that he rejects the Oslo accords. Therefore, we can be sure that all along the way, Zionists will be on the lookout for any and every opportunity that can be exploited to derail progress on talks. Palestinians should be alert for such stratagems and ensure that they are immediately exposed as Zionist wrecking tactics.