Some people in Hamas think that it might be hard to carry out their blustering threats when their leaders are picked off almost as fast as they can name them.

"The Islamic and Arab world ... expected the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas resistance movement combatants to take revenge for the bloodshed of martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin immediately," he told the agency. "But [they] are unaware of the limitations and [the] amount of pressure imposed against the Palestinian combatants."

Isn't it a shame to disappoint "the Islamic and Arab world"? Not to mention their apologists in the west, who assure us daily that Israel's tactics will just create more terrorism?

And this was interesting as well:

A leading Arab expert on Palestinian militant movements said in an interview that Hamas also might be deterred by the fear that a large-scale attack inside Israel would provoke Israel to kill Mr. Arafat — whom Hamas now sees as its main protector.

"It is mainly because of Arafat that Hamas is left unharmed by the Palestinian Authority's security services," said Nabil Khatib, a lecturer at the leading Palestinian university, Bir Zeit, who is in close contact with the Palestinian factions.