> 1) Was the Gaza attack intended to derail the cease-fire plans?
Check out the quotes from the officials brokering the cease-fire....
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Israeli raid wrecked Palestinian pledge to end civilian attacks: report
Agence France Presse July 24, 2002
LONDON--Israel's deadly air strike in Gaza scuppered a Palestinian pledge to end suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, according to Western diplomats cited by The Times newspaper on Wednesday.
The Palestinian statement was being put together with the help of a high-level European diplomat and an American who has worked with the Palestinian leadership for two decades, the paper said. Backed by senior officials in Palestinian leader Yasser Arafats Fatah movement, it contained a commitment to do everything in the militias power to stop attacks on civilians, including settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.
International mediators involved in drafting the document, a copy of which the paper claimed it had seen, confirmed that two hours before the strike late Monday a very senior Fatah leader met militant Hamas leaders in Gaza to secure their support.
Diplomats said they suspected the raid was timed to wreck what might have been a breakthrough for peace.
"Those directly involved in drafting the statement believe that this (attack) was a purposeful initiative on the part of the Israeli leadership to undermine what the Palestinians believed was the chance to stop the suicide bombs," said one of the international officials involved.
Israel's bombing raid in Gaza killed the military chief of the Palestinian radical Islamic group Hamas, his bodyguard and 13 civilians, including several children.
"This was a very ham-fisted operation on the part of the Israelis," the official said.
"They were apparently desperate to short-circuit whatever they wanted to short-circuit and obviously in the short term the chance of any such declaration is now gone."
The unsigned declaration promised a partial end to violence, leaving open the prospect of attacks on Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories, the paper said.