It's relieving to see Hamas, which has been firing rockets into southern Israel for months and still holds IDF soldier Gilat Shalit for over two years, finally feeling some pain. Hopefully, Israel will be relentless in its attacks and force upon Hamas a new reality in which it understands a price will be paid for any future instigation.
However, today's violence is, undeniably, also terribly saddening. Palestinians in Gaza could have been better off had it not been for Hamas. Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005 offered an opportunity for the Palestinians there to exercise self-rule and establish a nascent state. Hamas failed them, but Palestinians also failed themselves for electing Hamas to power. As a Ha'aretz columnist wrote, "Nothing has been more instrumental in harming the cause of Palestinian independence than Hamas."
Instead of building a state, Hamas began building an army, with dozens of new security installations, thousands of new recruits, and tens of thousands of rockets and anti-aircraft missiles smuggled via Egypt.
Hamas and Palestinian Authority leaders need to be pressured to help Palestinians along a different path toward reconciliation with Israel. Unfortunately, they won't hear that from Israel's closest Arab allies. Egypt reportedly condemned Israel's attacks today, which Jordan's King Abdullah said "targeted innocent women and children." These Arab "allies" should know better. They should put the blame squarely on Hamas, not Israel.
Instead, the relief from Hamas rule which Palestinians deserve will be delayed and will come only once Palestinians, collectively, have tired of war and rise up against their corrupt rulers demanding change. If that time comes only in a hundred or more years, so be it. For only then will a lasting peace be within reach.
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