There is not so much there a case where Israel is repeating the same mistakes, it is more of an instance of them recycling the same situations and scenarios over and over again, like a rote memorized, old movie, cliff hanger serial.

Throw the old script away, and real peace might have a real chance of flourishing some day.

The reason nothing gets resolved with force these days is because there are just so many moral considerations that hamper any productive outcome. Once the decision is made to start a bombing campaign against Hamas, death of the innocent is inevitable. It is impossible to proceed with a conflict that includes weapons without civilian casualties. Hamas is counting on that fact. They hide among the innocents knowing the world will further hate Israel for any loss of life. Of course the same condemnation is not leveled at suicide bombers no matter the loss of life. The reason for that is because those orchestrating suicide bombers are not country bound. So we can't blame a country for this criminal deeds.

If I was calling the shots it is time to target the money supplier for these terrorist organizations which is Iran. It is time for Israel to take it to them. Iran has said repeatedly that they want Israel to vanish and so before that happens while the rest of the world watches and does nothing, Israel needs to snuff out the real enemy which is Iran. They have damaged Hamas and now they need to move on. To do otherwise is to just get further boxed in for Israel and with each mounting day Iran gets closer to producing a bomb they will use on Israel. Strike first.

The ceasefire ended on November 4th when Israel blocked all crossings into Gaza and launched a series of raids. There has been no ceasefire since that time. The population has been starved and terrorized since.

What kind of negotiation is expected? Stop fighting back and accept our imposed starvation and assassinations.

The university espoused the Hamas ideology. So everything is a target I guess. One can say that the elementary schools espouse Hamas ideology. What ideology is that anyway? That Palestinians have a right to self-determination? Can't have that.

Israel is based on the rule of law, and cares more about civilian casualties, unlike the barbarians surrounding it. What law is this? Certainly not international law. The laws that the right-wing government dictate perhaps. As for care for civilian casualties should we compare the something like 10-1 civilian casualty ratio?

What tripe Salon.

The negotiations and efforts of the 90's got Israel an Intifada. The peace process was full of suicide bombings in public places in Israel. Since shutting down the crossings and taking a hard line the groups intent on bombing Israel have been limited to lobbing inaccurate missiles. The rise of Hamas has hardly given anyone any reason to think that peace negotiations would be met by a receptive audience. Israel needs a real reason to consider peace.

It is a fact that Hamas declined to formally extend the six-month ceasefire that recently expired. Their leader in Syria, Meshaal gave the order, even though their leaders in Gaza seemed to be more inclined to think about it. Egypt tried desperately to broker the new ceasefire deal and failed. You can argue about whether the actual ceasefire was in effect, what kind, who violated it, whatever. Fact of the matter is, Hamas ordered a barrage of rockets towards the end of ceasefire and declined further negotiations. And now Meshaal in Syria is finally calling for ceasefire. A little late.

It IS futile "battling an organization like Hamas"...IF you go into combat with this attitude that you're going to LOSE.

You've already lost the war if you have this attitude before you get to the fight.

But if you intend to win, then you have an excellent chance of doing so.

An Israeli gave a peace maker a bullet.

Yigal Amir, is an Israeli symbol, of restless settler anxieties, and deep seated, rampant, real racist fears.

If it is intolerable to simply sit by while your country is being bombarded, and it is wrong to fight back then what is the solution? Seems to me the horns of a dilemma.

One big difference. Israel is bombing military targets with civilian casualties accidental. Hamas is deliberately attacking civilians.

Israel needs to give back the West Bank and Gaza, the territories they grabbed in 1967, and Palestine needs to recognize the right of Israel to exist. Hamas arose because Palestine and Israel could not compromise, and of Israel's treatment of Palestine.

Israel needs to move beyond the Holecost. They are no longer the victims.

The U.s. should stay out of it. Only Israel adn Palestine and middle East countries can solve this.

Because there sure are a lot of them.

Anyone who cares to look will see that Israel broke the truce on Nov. 4 with an attack on a tunnel. So why should Hamas agree to any further truces? Why agree to a one-sided truce?

In any case, Gaza has been under land and naval blockade since long before all this, which is itself an act of war, and so Israel shouldn't complain that Hamas retaliates with rockets. You reap what you sow. You want the rockets to stop? Lift the blockade.

Of course, this overlooks the key point--that Israel stole essentially all of Palestine in the first place. Their plan was simple:

1. Migrate to a weak country

2. Establish a foothold through force

3. Declare "independence," then use any attempt to dislodge you as an excuse to steal more land.

4. Remove the indigent population.

5. Complain constantly that you are "under siege"

Everything that has happened to Israel since the initial theft has been justified.

One of the letter writers stated that Israel broke the cease fire by blockading the crossings. When Israel pulled out of Gaza a few years ago they essentially made Gaza an independent state. An independent state has a responsibility to be pacific with its neighbors, but it does not have the right to free trade with its neighbors. As an example, consider the US and Cuba. There is not warfare between the two neighbors, but there is not trade either. Israel has the perfect right to close its borders with a neighboring state, just as the United States can refuse to trade with Cuba. Not trading, state to independent state, is not a casus belli.