Fruits of the Intifada: that month another Mirkava and an armored bulldozer were both destroyed near Balata Camp in Nablus on February 26, 2002. While the "Israeli" army was withdrawing from Ramallah in March, 2002, the burning remnants of another Mirkava were also reportedly seen. It was no longer possible for the "Israeli" military establishment to pretend that the destruction of the first Mirkava was an exceptional aberration. 
Neither is the importance of these precedents derived from the simple, yet ingenious, means the Palestinians used to destroy the Mirkava beasts. Take for example the story of the first Mirkava in Gaza: an explosive charge of somewhere between fifty and one hundred kilograms of C-5 was detonated with a remote control device thus inducing a hole fifty centimeters wide in the base of the sixty-five ton tank that sent the engine inside the guts of the tank, the tower off the top, and most of the crew to a special Palestinian Arab hell. 
THAT, in and of itself, is a great testimony to the power of the people over advanced technology in the hands of an oppressive power. But the Mirkava III is not just any tank, and it isn't only the kind of tank of which the IDF employs 3600, out of a total of 5000 tanks (the other 1400 are American Abrams I tanks). The Mirkava III is supposed to be the jewel of "Israeli" military industry, a marvel of Jewish genius applied to advanced technology, so to speak. It was marketed around the world as the tank with a zero percent hit ratio to the crew where other tanks have an average of 26% hit ratio (or possible injury to the crew operating the machine). 
Why not? It is sheathed in three layers of armor for extra protection, especially in its tower. Its engine lies in the front of its structure. 
The ammunition for its gun is encased in special containers that are supposed to be fire and explosion-proof. It is equipped with a special electromagnetic system for identifying potential dangers. Its air-conditioning system was designed to provide protection for the crew inside against chemical, bacterial, and radio-active emissions. It has infra-red night vision. Entry and exit takes place from a backdoor. It can store more ammunition than usual for tanks which enables it to stay longer on the battlefield. In short, the Mirkava III has so many features, it has helped the "Israeli" military command develop a severe superiority complex, but that arrogance of power was badly wrecked on the rock of Palestinian Arab popular resistance when Intifada II beat down the Mirkava III. 
Not that this is merely a matter of egos or morale, despite the decisive importance of the latter in battles. In fact, the repeated destruction of the Mirkava III tank had dire ramifications for "Israel" strategically and economically, i.e., for Zionist power and money. 
For one thing, despite all the Zionist and American fanfare about Arab and Islamic long-range missiles, "Israeli" leaders have always said that "Israel" cannot be destroyed with missiles, but only with a land invasion. Given the very narrow depth of the "Israeli" strip of land, this has meant that maintaining superiority in tank divisions became a strategic imperative if conventional land incursions are to be prevented. Hence the sequence of Mirkava I, Mirkava II, Mirkava III, and Mirkava IV (under development). The point is that if the Palestinians have found the Achilles heel of the Mirkava, and were thus able to bring it down using relatively simple means, then the whole Zionist defense credo of relying on superiority in tanks to defend "Israel's" existence becomes a house sitting on sinking sands. Should there arise a determined leadership willing to take the confrontation with Zionism to the end instead of the political parasites drooling over a Palestinian statelet under any condition and sacrifice of principle, the whole Zionist military credo would be thrown into disarray. 
On the economic front, the destruction of the Mirkava III in the West Bank and Gaza dealt a severe blow to Zionist efforts to market the Mirkava III worldwide. Its exorbitant price suddenly went down considerably in international arms markets. Its prospects in China, India, Africa, and some small European states where the "Israeli" Defense Ministry was marketing aggressively were shattered. A lot of effort was expended to convince Turkey to buy one thousand Mirkava III's. A factory was built in Mexico, with American financing, to supply Mirkava III's to the Latin American arms market. Now all that is in the winds. 
Consequently, the destruction of the Mirkava has brought about Zionist losses that exceed the immediate loss of personnel and equipment inherent in the tanks destroyed. It has damaged the reputation of the allegedly invincible Mirkava III and the reputation of "Israeli" armored divisions thereof, not to mention the damage to the alleged "Israeli" technological and industrial superiority. The economic losses have not only hurt "Israeli" military industry and trade, but the profitability of the American investors who financed the factory in Mexico as well. Strategically, the destruction of the Mirkava has ripped a big hole in the Zionist military credo as well. It has also demonstrated once more what a people can do when they are truly determined to face down a technologically more advanced 
adversary. 
"Israel" had freaked out in 1999 when Egypt signed a deal to buy a stock of 120 millimeter shells for its tanks, known as "the silver bullet", that are made out of depleted Uranium. As it turned out, Mirkava's are not exactly immune to those. But still, the Palestinian Arab resistance has managed to inflict so much damage on "Israel" itself with the destruction of the Mirkava without any "silver bullets". 
And such are the fruits of the Intifada.