It was hoped, even expected, in some quarters that Israel's removal of Jewish settlements and unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip several weeks ago would result in a major step toward a peace pact with the Palestinian Authority, headed up by the late Yasser Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas.

But Abbas, claiming he feared setting off a civil war, let the Islamic terrorist group Hamas fill the law-and-order void created by the departure of Israeli troops. What his goodwill peace gesture got Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a former hardliner, was a wave of rocket attacks targeted at Israeli towns near the border.

The attacks strengthened Sharon's Likud Party critics, who had contended for months that the Palestinian terrorists, believing they forced the pullout, would step up their violence against Israel in hopes of "winning" even more victories.

The cease-fire that had been in place for months virtually collapsed as the Israelis struck back against the militants, killing a prominent Islamic Jihad commander, Mohammed Khalil, in a pinpoint air strike in the Gaza Strip and rounding up nearly 300 Palestinian terrorist suspects in Gaza and the West Bank.

"There shall be no restrictions on the use of all means to hit the terrorists and the terror organizations, their equipment and their hideouts," Sharon told his Cabinet recently. "The order is unequivocal."

His tough response helped Sharon survive a close Likud leadership vote last week that, had it gone against him, could have led to his ouster from power. Instead, his leadership is safe - at least until next spring.

Another plus for Sharon is that a top Hamas leader in Gaza said his group would stop the rocket fire, which again raised hopes for peace. But Islamic Jihad's top leader in Gaza and the West Bank, Mohammed al-Hindi, did not follow suit. He said the cease-fire is dead and that "there is only room for talk of war."

What these events show is that there may be a split developing between anti-Israel extremist terrorists, Hamas and Jihad. That could be good for Israel. If terrorists can't agree with each other, they pose less of a threat to Israel. But, sadly, a real peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians still seems a long way off.