What now, after Tel Aviv?

Although the peace accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization was signed last year, the situation in the Middle East is far from tranquil. On Wednesday a suicide bomber blew up a bus in the very heart of the Israeli city, Tel Aviv, killing at least 20 people and wounding 40 others.

For the militant Moslem group Hamas, the war for the liberation of the Palestinian people is not yet over. Israel remains its archenemy. Wednesday's bombing and the earlier kidnapping of an Israeli corporal by the Hamas group are deadly proof that turmoil and murder prevail in the region.

The irony that arises from the tragic bombing in Tel Aviv is embodied in the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO leader Yasser Arafat are winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel committee in Stockholm considers them the architects of peace in the Middle East.

Also, the bloody tragedy happened just as the Israeli government is actively launching peace initiatives with Jordan and Syria.

The Hamas group clearly wants to see to it that the peace accord between the PLO and Israel will not work out. It is apparently prepared to wage a long guerrilla war against their enemy both inside and outside Israel.

Because the militant group operates in Gaza and Jericho, the Israeli leaders have asked Arafat to be responsible for the safety of the Jewish families living in Palestine's self-rule territories.

In light of this, Arafat cannot help but to feel the need to use his expertise in guerrilla warfare to crack down on the radical group once and for all. Otherwise he may have to watch the peace efforts he has painstakingly made thus far run aground.

This is not an easy task to undertake, for even Israel, a country believed to have the most vigorous military power and intelligence in the world, could not prevent Hamas' act of terror from happening right under their noses. Much less, the PLO, which has just set up its administration and which has yet to cope with its economic problem.

As Arafat himself has condemned the tragic bombing, we take it that he, along with the leaders of some other Arab nations, wants to preserve the peace initiatives in the Middle East. Judging from this, we could expect the possibility of an open war between his troops and those of the Hamas. If that happens, it is not unlikely that the Hamas may also strike at the Palestinian establishment or police force.

Judging from the way the Hamas group has carried on its "holy war" in the past, we know that its followers will not lay down their arms and that they will not stop fighting until the last drops of their blood before they reach their goal, thereby leading to a war of attrition.

And the Hamas group is not alone. Yesterday's news reports said that Palestinian hardliners had congratulated the group for what they called the "heroic" bus bombing. They even went so far as to say the act "was a direct response to Monday's initialing in Amman of the Jordan-Israel peace treaty".

Combined with possible indiscriminate Israeli retaliation against the Arabs, the Middle East, we are afraid, could once again plunge into the flames of war.

The current situation in the Middle East seems to validate the question raised by some observers as to whether the granting of the Nobel Peace Prize to the peace seekers there was not premature.