Two months after she was seriously injured when a suicide bomber blew up the No 18 bus in central Jerusalem, Ms Dana Shimshon is still recovering in the city's Hadassah hospital. This weekend there was a new arrival in the neighbouring ward Mr Hassan Salameh, the Hamas militant alleged to have orchestrated and several other bombings.
Mr Salameh was captured late on Friday night in Hebron, after a soldier on foot patrol recognised him during a routine check. When Mr Salameh to flee in his car, the soldier opened fire, hitting the Israeli army's second most wanted man in the back and requiring his hospitalisation.
"He's caused so much suffering to so many families," Ms Shimshon was yesterday quoted as saying, "that it's a shame he's not dead."
"I'm personally ready to pull the trigger," added her mother, Ilana.
But the truth is that Israel is congratulating itself on having captured Mr Salameh alive, and the eight arrests made in the West Bank since he was brought in testify to the benefits for Israeli intelligence. Mr Mohammad Dif, the head of the Hamas military wing, is still at large, as are about 20 other members of the Hamas "hard core".
This weekend's arrests represent the latest in a series of Israeli successes since the Hamas bomb maker in chief, Yihya Ayash, was assassinated in Gaza in January. And the hope in Israel now is that Mr Salameh's capture may reduce Hamas's ability to organise further suicide bombings in the run up to the May 29th elections.
Mr Shimon Peres, the Labour Prime Minister facing a stiff challenge from the opposition Likud leader, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, had described Mr Salameh as a time bomb and has expressed tremendous relief at his arrest.
Fearful that another bombing will swipe out his re election chances, Mr Peres will also have been pleased to hear talk of a temporary ceasefire among some Hamas leaders in Gaza in recent days.
But other Hamas officials over seas are still calling for further bombings. And the Israeli military and security services remain on the highest alert.
Mr Peres was yesterday also preoccupied with trouble on the northern border, where a Lebanese woman was wounded, two Hizbullah gunmen were killed, and an Israeli soldier was hurt in exchanges of fire in southern Lebanon.
Syria and Lebanon charged that the wounding of the civilian constituted a breach of written understandings hammered out after last month's Israeli bombardment. An Israeli official denied this. With clashes between the Israelis and Hizbullah again occurring almost daily, the potential for another major escalation is increasing.
. A Palestinian human rights activist is being held by President Yasser Arafat's security forces, apparently for issuing criticisms of Mr Arafat's regime. Mr Iyad Sarajj, who succeeded Dr Hanan Ashrawi as head of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens Rights, was detained on Saturday.
AFP adds from Amman Mr Arafat's personal doctor yesterday denied reports that Mr Arafat had suffered a mild stroke and said he was in "excellent health".
Mr Arafat (67), has been hit by a simple "bout of flu and the effects of overwork," Dr Achraf Kurdi, a neurologist, said.