AMONTH after promising President Bush that Israel would withdraw all of its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is overseeing the largest military operation there in years -- yet another of the unpleasant surprises he has delivered to the administration as it struggles with a major crisis in Iraq. Since obtaining big diplomatic concessions from Mr. Bush in exchange for his Gaza plan -- at the cost of a significant backlash among America's dwindling number of Middle Eastern allies -- Mr. Sharon has further inflamed Arab opinion by assassinating the two top leaders of the Hamas movement while allowing his withdrawal plan to be halted by hard-liners in his Likud Party. Now he has dispatched a large Israeli military force to the southern end of the Gaza Strip for an offensive that has so far destroyed scores of Palestinian homes, with hundreds of more to be razed. If he proceeds, the cost of Mr. Bush's commitment to Israel's reckless leader will escalate yet again -- so far, with no return.
The motives for the Israeli offensive begin with response to the deaths of 13 soldiers in ambushes last week, many of them near the border between Gaza and