"It is the first time an Israeli government has recognised another state west of the Jordan. We'll make every effort to change it."Yitzhak Medad, a veteran settler, said: "Sharon was a brilliant general, a great tactician, a political strategist, but he's a lousy diplomat."The settlers are bitter because they remember that, as a patron, Mr Sharon encouraged settlements, but as Defence Minister he evacuated settlements from Sinai under the 1979 treaty with Egypt. They fear his pragmatism.Mr Medad, an American immigrant who has lived in Shilo, between Ramallah and Nablus, for 20 years and raised five children there, said: "Every prime minister who's attempted to uproot Jews from the Land of Israel has succeeded in doing a lot of damage. But they're not here and we are."As if in a display of tenacity, the population of the 130 West Bank and 16 Gaza settlements grew last year by 6 per cent.Not all the settlers went for ideological reasons.

Some of the largest, such as Ma'ale Adumim east of Jerusalem with 28,000 people, are commuter satellite towns. Families were attracted by subsidised housing and generous mortgages. But, like their messianic neighbours, they won't go quietly or cheaply.. Even her family is baffled that Hiba Daraghmeh insisted on covering herself from head to toe in a dark brown, all-enveloping robe at all times.

The white veil she also wore - a badge of Islamic fundamentalism - concealed her head, mouth and nose. Only her almond-coloured eyes were visible to the outside world. Even her cousin, Murad Daraghmeh, 20, also a student at Al Quds, says: "I never saw her face I never talked to her. I never shook hands with her."The first time the world saw her young face unveiled was in a poster. Islamic Jihad released it, after her death eight days ago.Hiba was a suicide bomber. She detonated the explosives around her waist outside the Amakim Shopping Mall in the northern Israeli town of Afula, killing three Israelis and wounding 48.Eyewitnesses described a horrifying scene of rubble, shattered glass and great pools of blood.