In the wake of the latest attack on the Israeli checkpoint in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suspended all government contacts with members of the Palestinian Authority.

Sharon's Likud Party has recently entered into a coalition government with the traditionally dovish and negotiation minded Labor Party headed by Shimon Peres. If Labor stands behind the severing of diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be under enormous external pressure to crack down on Palestinian terrorists. Some internal forces will violently resist any efforts to disarm and arrest members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Yasser Arafat Martyrs Brigades and other terrorists. Other Palestinians will desire the end to long and fruitless years of fighting. We know who owns the guns.

Sharon has called Abbas' bluff only five days after Abbas' electoral victory, thanks to the irresistable desire of the Palestinian Islamists to kill Israelis. Can Abbas shed his PLO skin and rally the Palestinian people to dismantle the terror infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank? If he will not attempt it, the democratically elected government of the Palestinian people has openly rejected the key provision of Road Map and embraced the terrorists in their midst. This is not a promising way to obtain international support - particularly America's, although Europe has been willing to ignore the terrorist government of Yasser Arafat.

Abbas' very first move on the Israeli - Palestinian chess board is extracting his king from check.