So Sharon and his fellow hawks actually did it (or was it just Sharon aping George W? One wonders.)
There's no question that Yassin had blood on his hands... don't get me wrong.

However....

I'm surprised that they didn't choose a less obvious way... the Mossad could have certainly engineered something less spectacular but none the less effective. It's clear, therefore, that the Israeli Government did not only want Yassin dead, they also wanted the world to know exactly who did it. That, in turn, smells like your local bully sending a message to everyone who lives on his block that no one's safe.

Indeed, no one's safe.

That, however, cuts both ways.

In killing Yassin Israel created not just another dead Palestinian (of which there are many) but a modern Palestinian martyr (of which there's only one).

(It doesn't help that Yassin was a crippled old man in a wheelchair. A missle against a cripple... if you're Sharon's Press Spokesman, just how, exactly, do you spin that?)

The Gates of Hell have indeed been opened and I doubt the poeple of Israel are ready (or willing) to pay the price for their Government's folly.