AL QUDS: The two suicide bombings in Israel and the West Bank on Tuesday may not have signalled the end of the three- month ceasefire Palestinian militant organizations called on June 29, but they did provide it with its sternest test to date.

“It’s too early to speak of consequences,” government spokesman Zalman Shoval said, shortly after the two bombings, in the Israeli town of Rosh Ha’ayin and outside the northern West Bank settlement of Ariel.

“The attacks don’t necessarily herald an end to the relative calm in the region and the return to the violent conflict prevalent before the hudna (ceasefire) was declared,” commentator Aluf Benn wrote in the Ha’aretz daily.

The aftermaths of the attacks produced several pessimistic forecasts, but no immediate declarations that the ceasefire was finished.

But with the truce now at its half-way mark, both sides are saying the onus for preserving it lies with the other.

Palestinians say Israel’s ongoing operations in the occupied territories endanger the ceasefire, while Israel says the Palestinian Authority has to crack down on the militant organizations, as demanded by the international “roadmap” peace plan, otherwise the truce is meaningless.

The Hamas movement, which claimed responsibility for at least one of the attacks on Tuesday, said its action was a retaliation for an Israeli operation in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Friday in which four Palestinians, including two militants, were killed.

The organization said it would continue with the truce, but only if Israel fulfilled its obligations.

Although it undoubtedly benefits from it, Israel does not see itself as a formal party to the truce but regards it as a Palestinian issue, under which the militant organizations promised PA to halt attacks on the Jewish state.

Israeli spokesmen demand the PA utilize the ceasefire to crack down on the militants, who it says are exploiting the truce to rearm and reorganize.

Palestinian officials say they cannot do this. After nearly three years of incessant Israeli attacks, they say, the Palestinian security forces are too weak to go head-to-head with the militant groups.

The militant organizations have firmly rejected any suggestion they give up their arms voluntarily and so far Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has been loathe to enter into a confrontation which he could possibly lose.

At the same time, Palestinian Security Affairs chief Mohammed Dahlan said in a communique on Tuesday that he would not allow the truce to be breached again.

But if the militants do carry out another attack and Dahlan’s forces do act, this could precipitate fierce inter-Palestinian fighting which the PA wants to avoid.

If the PA does not act in response to any possible future attacks, Israel could, provoking more actions from the militants and the truce, and the promise of the roadmap, will become meaningless.

What may prevent such a scenario is greater United States participation. US President George Bush has placed his prestige behind the roadmap and while American involvement to date has been sporadic, the possibility that it may all fall apart may galvanize Washington into action.

Then too, there is the attitudes of the sides, their mutual accusations and pessimistic forecasts notwithstanding.

“The parties involved still have an interest to keep the calm, if only to recuperate and gather strength,” Benn wrote.—dpa