Israel continues its offensive to force a halt to Hamas bombardment of civilian targets in Israel from Gaza. It struck only after 6,000 rockets, missiles and mortars had been fired on Israel over the past three years. Hamas, to run up Palestinian civilan casualties for media photo-ops, often fires from residential civiian areas, where civilian casualties result when Israrel fire destroys the launchers.
A ceasefire is now being discussed. Israel has said it will consider it, but any ceasefire must halt all rocket fire and all rearmament of Hamas across and under the Gaza border with Egypt. Hundreds of tunnels have been dug to move munitions from Iran into Gaza. They usually exit in the homes of Palestian families in Gaza near the border. Israeli aircraft have destroyed many of the tunnels, but many remain. Egypt has turned the proverbial blind eye to the weapons smuggling.
Any ceasefire that relies on international monitors would be a fatal mistake for Israel. This is the mistake made at the cessation of warfare with Hezbollah in 2006. The international monitors have done nothing to block Hezbollah from rearming and reestablishing war capability right up to the border between Israel and Hamas.
Israel should trust its security solely to the Israrel Defense Forces. This means Israel will have to take over border control on the Egypt side of Gaza as well as the rest of the perimeter.
Hamas continues to fire rockets and missiles into Israel, today hitting buildings in Ashkelon, a city of 100,000. Hamas has yet to indicate it will consider a ceasefire.
Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and used the last ceasefire to rearm. Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, also in its founding charter, never changed under Arafat or since, is also dedicated to Israel's destruction, though at this time it considers outright warfare not the right tactic because of Israel's military might.
Hamas in a bloody fight took control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2006.
The U.S. continues to treat Abbas and the Palestinian Authority as a legitimate negotiating partner, as does the current Israeli government, which is absurd.
President Abbas' term as president actually runs out tomorrow, January 9th, but he has announced he will not hold elections until later. Some talk of an April election. Early betting is that in any election Hamas would again gain control of Parliament and its "candidate" would defeat Abbas. So don't expect early elections. And who would be the negotiating partner then?
Andrew McCarthy, the former federal prosecutor who sent the blind shiekh who masterminded the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 to prison, has the right answer: Forget the two-state solution. With Palestinian society drenched daily with anti-Israel propaganda from television, radio, the press and in the schools, all of which glorify death as suicide killer, it will be a generation a least before such an outcome could be considered. And that's assuming the hate and death glorification stopped -- which there is no indication it will.
Israel must commit itself to defense. There is no negotiating partner willing to agree that Israel should continue to exist. The Arab states talk of their unrealistic peace plan, which is unacceptable since it would leave Israel defenseless, and, in any event, they have no control of Hamas which, although Sunni, is under the control of Shiite Iran.
Israeli elections are February 10th. Who will be elected? The present government that waited three years to launch an offensive to halt the rocket fire and wants to give away the Golan to Syria and virtually all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Palestinians for "peace," or a party that is dedicated to the defense of Israel with no illusions about the enemies that surround it.
