Conditions for cease fire:
Israel: Israel has three main demands: an end to Palestinian attacks, international supervision of any truce and a halt to Hamas rearming.
Hamas: Hamas demands a cessation of Israeli attacks and the opening of vital Gaza-Israel cargo crossings, Gaza's main lifeline.
So, the (Israel) military said Monday that 80 truckloads of humanitarian aid and critical fuel supplies would be let in.
Meanwhile, Hamas leaders went into hiding before the Israeli military strike began and only on rare occasions have addressed the Gaza residents in broadcasts from their hideouts. On Monday, the mastermind of Hamas' takeover of Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, exhorted Palestinians to "crush" Israeli forces and to target Israeli civilians.
"The Zionists have legitimized the killing of their children by killing our children. They have legitimized the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people," Zahar said in a grainy video broadcast on Hamas TV.
"Crush your enemy," he urged.
Hamas, and its predecessor PLO, have been trying to crush Israel for years.
From 2001 through May 2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar attacks against Israeli targets.
From 2000 to 2004, Hamas was responsible for killing nearly 400 Israelis and wounding more than 2,000 in 425 attacks, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The French mentality apparently is that indiscriminate bombs are better for Azans than ground forces that are highly selective in targeting only militants. While blaming Hamas for causing Palestinian suffering with rocket fire that led to the Israeli offensive, Sarkozy has condemned Israel's use of ground troops, reflecting general world opinion.
There is a growing awareness, at least on this scrivener's part, that the leadership of Aza and that of World War II Japan is similar. Neither cared how many of its people died for their glory. Remember it took two atomic bombs - one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki - to convince Japan's rulers to surrender.
Like the Aza population, the Japanese of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were warned in advance; the attacks - if not the power of the weapons - came as no surprise to the Japanese rulers, just as the ferocity of Israel's attack on Hamas targets should be no surprise to either Hamas or the people it rules.
Hamas' leaders, if Zahar is to be believed - and I suggest he IS believable - has declared war on Zionists (read "Jews") "all over the world."
Would Hamas strike at synagogues? Why not; it uses mosques as arsenals and ammunition dumps.
Medical facilities? It used an ambulance to try to smuggle an explosive-laden suicide murderer into Israel (so much for appreciating Israel's effort at humanitarian aid).
Meanwhile, some of the world is aghast that Israel is using white phosphorus shells to screen its assault on the heavily populated Gaza Strip.
Burning blobs of phosphorus would cause severe injuries to anyone caught beneath them and force would-be snipers or operators of remote-controlled booby traps to take cover.
To protect Aza civilians, Israeli troops took over buildings on the outskirts of Gaza City, taking up rooftop positions after locking residents in rooms and taking away their cell phones, a neighbor said, quoting a relative in one of the buildings before his phone was taken away. If the residents stay inside, they won't be targeted by Israeli troops, not will they be accidently burned by falling phosphorus; unfortunately for the civilians of Aza, the Heroes of Hamas - its leadership - remain hidden from the retribution they deserve both for the attacks on Israel civilians and for the death and destruction rained on Aza as Israel retaliates for the attacks.
The best thing the civilian citizens of Aza could do for themselves is to point out - a cell phone call to the Israeli military's advertised phone numbers is all it would take - where Hamas' leadership is hiding, if they know.
Yohanon Glenn
Yohanon.Glenn @ gmail dot com
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