Did anyone truly think that after Israel called for a unilateral ceasefire, and Hamas begrudgingly followed suit, that Hamas wouldn’t eventually start firing rockets into Israel again? The question wasn’t if but when, and it certainly didn’t take long. A mere 3 hours after the unilateral ceasefire was declared, Hamas fired 19 rockets into various areas of Israel.

Although Hamas has given Israel a week to pull out their troops, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hamas started attacking Israel before the week ends. It seems to be their modus operandi. And I’m beginning to wonder if this continued and constant provocation of Israel isn’t some kind of ploy by Hamas leaders to get Israel to react forcefully in order to gain worldwide sympathy. It certainly worked this time, around. They had no problem rallying the troops to their cause, from every leftist, neo-nazi, Pro-Hamas, Jew-hating group from Canada to Australia, and pretty much everywhere else in between.

They care nothing about their people, so why not make them martyrs, it certainly looks good in the press, and shahada is something most Palestinians yearn for, even their children, so Hamas leaders probably feel they are doing them a favor. They are Islamist terrorists, after all.

Apart from the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza, another condition of the Hamas ceasefire is the opening of all borders which, under normal circumstances, would be understandable and desirable. However, given the past actions of Hamas, the Israelis would be insane to freely open their borders. Open borders allow suicide bombers to enter Israel, so until suicide bombings become a thing of the past, Israel has every right to maintain those borders.

In the meantime, Israelis in the south have gathered together to collect aid for displaced Gazans on the other side of the border. I think all they would like in return is to live in peace without having to worry about suicide bombers or rockets being fired into their homes. But all of that is up to Hamas and the Palestinian people, since they are the ones who fire those rockets and strap those bombs on their bodies. The ball is in their court, so to speak.

But I doubt anything will change. After all, according to a poll taken in March, 2008 by Khalil Shikaki, “an overwhelming majority of Palestinians” supported an attack “on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that killed eight young men, most of them teenagers.” Shikaki “said he was shocked because the survey [snip] showed greater support for violence than any other he had conducted over the past 15 years in the Palestinian areas. Never before, he said, had a majority favored an end to negotiations or the shooting of rockets at Israel.” Also mentioned in the March, 2008 New York Times article: “On negotiations between Ehud Olmert, prime minister of Israel, and Mr. Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, 75 percent said they were without benefit and should be terminated. Regarding the thousands of rockets that have been launched on Israeli towns like Sderot and Ashkelon, 64 percent support it.”

Until the Palestinian people truly stop favoring violence over talks, there will never be peace.