The callousness of Hamas

Richard Cohen, opinion writer for the Washington Post, wrote an excellent piece on Hamas' total disregard for the safety of Gazan residents.

He concludes, "...This war between Arabs and Jews, between Israelis and Palestinians, is well over 100 years old. Both sides have a case and both sides have proved to be indomitable. But both sides are not equally right in all instances. Hamas sent rockets into Israel, not caring if they hit a chicken coop or a group of toddlers jumping in and out of a sprinkler. You want balance? Here’s balance. Hamas didn’t care if its own people died either."

To read the entire column, click here.

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In the same November 19, 2012 edition of the Washington Post, Max Fisher has a good article entitled "Israel, Gaza, and the patterns of the past". He concludes, "...Finding a way out of the patterns of the past would not be easy for Israel or for Gaza, and the cynicism that often follows Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy such as the unofficial peace proposal draft of last week is informed by a long history of disappointments. The foreseeable exits from this cycle would require historic efforts to reach: Gazans rejecting the leadership of Hamas, for example, or Israelis moving West Bank Palestinians toward a political independence that could offer Gaza a better example, as the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg has suggested. At some point, though, the costs of the status quo may begin to exceed the costs of breaking it, if they have not already."