RO1SIN, please give us a source or two. It's easy to make unsubstantiated statements. You may listen to a news source that no one else listens to or that is so one-sided as to make it worthless as a legitimate source.
Radio Jerusalem and Radio Ramalla are not likely to give unbiased reports.
The Palestinians may not have known what the IDF would do but surely they knew that it would do something.
The whole idea behind the homicidal suicide bombings was to provoke a strong response from the Israeli Government and try to turn world opinion against Israel and her chief supporter, the US. Pretty sucessful I'd say.