The Palestinians are counting their dead in Jenin, Nablus, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Dura in their hundreds.
On April 28th Israeli tanks rolled into Hebron, the one main West Bank town left untouched by Israel's latest offensive, after Palestinian guerrillas attacked a nearby settlement, killing four people, including a five-year-old girl.Compared with the devastation visited on Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah, the invasion was small-scale.
On news of the Nablus killings, thousands of people stormed the gates of a PA prison in Nablus, demanding the release of Hamas prisoners interned as part of Mr Arafat's now futile ceasefire.
Hamas took control of three key cities in local elections last week, including a landslide in Fatah's former stronghold, Nablus.
In the wake of the Nablus killings, Fatah too promised "a swift and painful response", announcing strikes and two days of mourning throughout the occupied territories.
"Both sides will act immediately to return the situation to that which existed prior to the current crisis," the president announced in an agreed statement at noon on October 17th.That night, despite continued sporadic shooting at several flashpoints, Israeli tanks began withdrawing from around Nablus.
And for the first time in months camp residents are enjoying their first nights of sleep unbroken by gunfire.Moreover, Nablus people still appreciate the relative prosperity that has revived the city since the second intifada ended in around 2005.
In 2005, the charity built a playground in the West Bank city of Nablus.
And at the outset of the second intifada in 2000, Palestinian militants torched Joseph's tomb in the West Bank town of Nablus and painted its dome green, for Islam.
Meanwhile, it says, it has tightened its "closures" of Jenin, Nablus and other Palestinian towns in the north of the West Bank.
On October 18th, the last remaining Palestinian families left a village near Nablus after two years of armed harassment from settlers and no protection from the army.Palestinians also expect Mr Sharon will authorise the demolition of more houses belonging to the families of suicide bombers, and the assassinations of Islamic Jihad and Hamas leaders.
