ISRAELI PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon gave his people as well as the entire international community a glimpse of his inner thoughts on his country's conflict with the Palestinians when he said a few days ago that "there are cracks in the Palestinian side and I see a real opportunity for beginning a political process." The Israeli leader went on to add: "I will not let this opportunity slip from our hands because of the mistakes rooted in the inexperience of (Amram) Mitzna," the Labour leader.

These remarks by Sharon came on the occasion of the start of election campaigns by Israeli political parties in preparation for parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on Jan. 28.

They reveal a good deal about what the Israeli prime minister has up his sleeve when it comes to dealing with the Palestinians and their 27-month-old uprising against Israeli aggression and occupation of their lands.

In depicting his main opponent for the seat of prime minister, Mitzna, as a novice and inexperienced because of his open-mindedness on negotiating with the Palestinian leadership, Sharon has in effect shed more light than ever on what the Palestinians and the Arab world can expect from him and his Likud-led government if, as expected, they are voted into office in the upcoming elections.

By interpreting the internal Palestinian dialogue and soul-searching about the course of their Intifada as cracks that can be exploited, Sharon is missing the point.

The various views that are emerging from the Palestinian national dialogue on the future course of their struggle for freedom and independence are not cracks but the expression of democratically developed ideas on the part of the Palestinian people. They are part and parcel of the stock-taking that the Palestinian people are engaged in in a bid to crystallise a new Palestinian thought on how to proceed in the future.

The strengthening of Palestinian democracy should be encouraged, not exploited.

True many sober Palestinians are taking another look at the way their Intifada has been conducted especially after it became all too clear that suicide bombings are counterproductive tactics that can only provide ammunition to Israeli extremism. Sharon should be more careful in dealing with the new level of political sophistication that is being delicately nurtured among the Palestinian ranks.

If Israel still entertains hope that Palestinians would turn against each other and bleed to death, then it is time that the Israelis reconsider this assessment and also move in a new direction that would take into consideration not only the thoughts of Israeli hardliners but also of those who are tired of conflict and bloodletting and yearn for peace. As the division of opinion among Israelis are not cracks neither are the Palestinian divisions of political thought.