Patience is a virtue, I know, but really…
After all the bombs, the rockets fired, the weapons smuggled, and the blatant calls for their dissolution Israel has decided to get tough with Hamas – by giving them until the end of the year to decide if they’re serious about pursuing peace.
I applaud patience as a general rule, but is there any doubt whatsoever that Hamas has no interest in peace with Israel? Prior to 9/11 I was generally sympathetic to the Palestinian people and thought there was room for Israel to bend a bit to get to a stable relationship between them. The Palestinians burned up every ounce of that sympathy in 1 day in September almost 6 years ago. The Israeli pull-out from Gaza has proven the words of those who said that any Israel withdrawl would only allow Palestinian terrorists to set up camp that much closer to Tel Aviv. The last straw came when the Palestinian people elected a known terror group, Hamas, as their government.
I should think that was signal enough as to their peaceful intentions. But, this is Israel’s call. I’ll wait (though not with held breath) for Hamas to show their intentions now.
