AS ISRAEL yesterday buried the victims of Sunday's Hamas suicide attacks, a new opinion poll underlined the fact that the extent of such Palestinian extremist violence over the next three months will determine who wins Israel's general election.
Until Sunday's bombings in Jerusalem and Ashkelon, which killed 27 people and left dozens more injured, the Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, was enjoying a 15 per cent lead over the right wing candidate, the Likud leader, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.
But a snap opinion poll carried out in the immediate aftermath of the bombings, and published yesterday in the Yediot Ahronot tabloid, showed the two men now running neck and neck.
Significantly, Mr Peres's support had stayed fairly solid at 48 per cent, but voters who had previously been undecided were now plumping for Mr Netanyahu, lifting him to 46 per cent.
So successful have the Ham as bombers been in spreading panic among Israelis that a car accident in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon was initially regarded as another extremist assault.
The driver responsible an American of Arab origin who killed two Israelis at a bus stop when he lost control of his vehicle was shot dead by bystanders who believed he was deliberately attacking them.
That incident came as Mr Peres was speaking in the Knesset, issuing a call for unity among Israelis, and an ultimatum to the PLO President, Mr Yasser Arafat, to "disarm the terrorists" or risk the collapse of the peace peace process. Mr Netanyahu endorsed both demands, and refrained from criticising Mr Peres or his peace policies directly.
Other right wing politicians showed less restraint, however, with several implying that Mr Peres bore personal blame for the Sunday bombings, since it was he, earlier in the weekend, who gave the order to lift an 11 day ban on West Bankers and Gazans entering Israel.
That ban has now been reimposed and is likely to remain in force for weeks if not months.
The effectiveness of such closure orders has inevitably been much discussed in Israel over the past 24 hours. Some security experts insist that their only purpose lies in providing psychological comfort to Israelis, while others note that only one suicide bombing in two years has taken place when an entry ban was in force.
What is certain is that such closure orders, keeping Palestinians away from jobs in Israel, accord more with the late Yitzhak Rabin's vision of Israeli Palestinian relations than with that of Mr Peres.
While Mr Rabin wanted the peace process to bring about a clear separation of the two peoples, Mr Peres has always dreamed of peaceful integration and a new era of cooperation. As yesterday's poll makes clear, each new bombing leaves more Israelis feeling that Mr Peres's outlook is simply unrealistic.
Sources close to Mr Arafat said yesterday that the Palestinian leadership regarded the latest bombings as a breach of "under standings" reached with Hamas for a suspension of violence while Israel withdraws from Arab population centres in the West Bank.
Most Palestinians seem opposed to the attacks, recognising that they can only slow Israel's relinquishment of West Bank territory, and reduce the opportunities for them to find employment in Israel.
But the militants at the core of Ham as had stated repeatedly that they intended to avenge January's assassination of their bomb maker, Yihya Ayash, and they signed their leaflets claiming responsibility for Sunday's attacks in the name of "The New Disciples of the Martyr Yihya Ayash."
One, or possibly both of the bombers, is believed to have come from the Hebron area. But the planners are believed to have been trained in Gaza. Two of the suspected planners, Muhi Adin Sharif and Muhammad Dif, have been wanted by Israel for several months. In Gaza yesterday Mr Arafat's police arrested about 60 alleged Hamas activists.
. In a Tel Aviv court yesterday, Yigal Amir, his brother Hagai, and a third suspect, Dror Adani, denied conspiring to murder Mr Rabin. Their lawyers insisted that there had been no conspiracy between the three before Amir gunned down Mr Rabin on November 4th last. Amir, who has confessed to shooting Mr Rabin but denies that the killing was premeditated, is being tried separately for murder in a case that is due to resume early next month.