The soldiers were driving near Tibnin when their car was chased by the

The soldiers were driving near Tibnin when their car was chased by the helicopter. The two men jumped from their vehicle, waving their arms and pointing to their US-made uniforms, then ran into a house for protection. The Israeli pilot then fired a laser- guided missile into the building, killing them both.Almost equally shocking for the Christian community was the sabotage attack by the Israelis on two of Lebanon's main power stations, both in Christian Maronite areas where no Hizbollah would ever dare to visit. Only eight Hizbollah guerrillas are believed to have died.Nor has the Christian community - traditionally friendly to the West and once allies of the Israelis - been spared.

An elderly Christian Maronite was killed when an Israeli air raid inexplicably struck his totally Christian village in the Bekaa, while two Christian Maronite Lebanese army soldiers were killed by an Israeli helicopter pilot in southern Lebanon. A national day of mourning yesterday closed down shops, banks and government buildings across the country while at midday, many Lebanese observed a minute's silence in memory of the 200 or so civilians killed by the Israelis.They include, of course, not only the men, women and children of Qana but a four-day-old baby killed with 11 members of her family by an Israeli helicopter attack on her home in Nabatea, three children and two women in an ambulance that was deliberately targeted by another Israeli helicopter pilot in southern Lebanon, a two-year-old girl decapitated by an Israeli missile in Beirut and three sisters cut down by Israeli shells in the southern Bekaa. Outside mosques, clerics have pasted newspaper photographs of the bloodbath and prayers for the dead. The Israeli offensive against civilians - which continued yesterday when an Israeli gunboat fired at an ambulance on the coastal highway north of Sidon, causing the driver to lose control and badly injure a pedestrian - has united Muslims and Christians in almost unprecedented fury.In both Muslim and Christian areas of Beirut, the Lebanese have tied black ribbons to their car radio aerials in memory of the 110 civilians slaughtered by the Israelis in the UN compound at Qana. On the bonnet and boot, there were two equally large glass boxes half filled with paper currency.

"Give for the Islamic Resistance", was hand- written on the side. And out of shops and houses, men and women - well- dressed, many of them middle class and very definitely not religious fanatics - walked, unsmiling, to put money in the boxes. Never before have such scenes been witnessed on the streets of Beirut. Previously despised by many Lebanese - especially those who are not of the Shia Muslim faith - the Hizbollah has, thanks to Israel, suddenly come of age. To understand how the Lebanese felt, you only had to watch the car which drove down Baalbek Street yesterday with four large yellow and green Hizbollah flags - complete with the word "Allah" and a hand holding a Kalashnikov rifle - flapping above it from make-shift flagpoles. Underestimating the political effect of Grapes of Wrath may turn out to be the worst miscalculation by the US in the Middle East since the American ambassador to Iraq went on holiday a few days before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.The EU endorsementLuxembourg (AP) - The European Union yesterday endorsed both the French and US plans to end fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon."The aim of these efforts must be to obtain, with an immediate halt to hostilities and acts of violence, the elaboration of a lasting agreement between" Israel and the Hizbollah guerrillas, EU ministers said.They also stuck by their "critical dialogue" with Iran, ignoring US appeals to isolate Tehran.. When Mr Christopher arrived in Damascus on Saturday he spoke of a quick ceasefire It has not happened. The problem is that the campaign launched by Mr Peres has already failed.

The Katyusha rockets that he promised to stop are still falling. But he dare not admit failure because this might lose him the election.Only the US can now save Mr Peres. Iran, Syria and Hizbollah know that every day Grapes of Wrath continues it damages Israel and the US more than them They also have cards still to play. Hizbollah has not yet made ground attacks which will cause casualties among Israeli forces Another Qana massacre is possible. Only this explains why they re-entered the Lebanese political swamp on 11 April, despite their experiences in the 1980s. It carried out some successful ambushes in the last month and has killed 77 Israeli soldiers in the last three years. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are Palestinian movements which carried out the suicide bomb attacks in Jerusalem, Ashkelon and Tel Aviv But Hizbollah is purely Lebanese.