The problem with the people in Gaza is that they have been brain washed by Islamic fundamentalists into believing that secular study in itself is not good since it will lead a Muslim away from Islam which may just be true. Anyone with a brain and an open outlook will see that the people in Gaza support the terrorist regime there and they really are not interested in getting out of their mess. I can agree that a few may have desires, but they must hide them lest they be considered heretics and murdered by the Islamic thought police.

I hope you succeed in freeing yourselves from the oppression... of HAMAS, who always reminds us how they love death (not life as you say) and who would never allow the girl's dream of becoming Miss Universe to come true

This article is irrelevant. Bringing focus to the few aspiring scientists and soccer players distracts from the real issues at hand, that the people in gaza have serious changes to make in their lives and outlooks if they ever want their situations to improve. Stop trying to humanize a political group that have brought every hardship they face upon themselves.

You are right. We don't want any of this humanisation stuff - certainly nothing which might suggest that in Gaza there are poeple with aspirations, who feel and think like anyone else. That would never do - it would spoil our image of them. After all, as long as Israel can continue to have enemies it will keep it united.

What is it about the palestinians and 'occupation, occupation everytime' I know there is no love for Israel but blaming EVERYTHING on the 'occupation' is becoming tiring! To tell the truth, if it were jews being blockaded in gaza and jews were in charge of Egypt, you can bet your life they would have found a way out of their predicament. Israel was built with hostile neighbours all round, imagine if all the jews did was sit around complainnig about how the arabs are making life difficult for them. Dr. Abu Saif, you and your intellectual colleagues should START doing some thing. Either you start exploring where the Israeli relationship may benefit GAZA or if you don't want to associate with Israel, mend fences with Egpyt and explore options there!!

Who's the "you" the op-ed is talking about? We all know there are good people everywhere. But if good people wants to prove they are good people then they should revolt against evil when evil celebrates the murder og innocents. Not vote evil into government.

What was it he said during the Gaza War that HE STARTED? Something like Gazans are resilient and each and everyone prepared to die for the cause and sacrifice their homes and businesses - except that Mashaal omitted to ask Gazans first Yes Gazans HAVE paid a shocking price for a war they never wanted and while Gaza is in ruins and Hamas simply return to squandering meagre resources on yet more tunnels and rockets so Fancy Boy Mashaal enjoys the good life and hospitality of his new found Sugar Daddies in Qatar

"Palestinian intellectual"--Consummate Arab propagandist. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

Nothing close to description on a tag pinned on them as ruthless terrorists by zionist BS peddlers ,...

What do you call over 400 'cast lead' and over 500 so called 'protective edge' child victims not to mention shot in cold blood by border guard snipers like those two few weeks ago or the 10 years old on the other side of the barrier a few days ago? ,...

And when they aren't busy doing scientific DNA experiments or designing fanciful electronics of the future, they're busy attending terrorist summer training camp and gathering by the thousands holding wooden axes in celebration of five people hacked to death by Hamas operatives. Some are probably used as tunnel rats because of their size. Sorry, but I fail to be impressed. These future electrical engineers will soon be wiring missiles together for Hamas and running lighting systems in the tunnels. Truth be told, I don't really believe the children described in this editorial exist. Independent journalists have been in search of children just like the ones described in the article, without success. Cometh now a Gazan, and he finds these nonexistent children. Hamas is just trying to put a human face on people who are simply not human.

Excuse me, but you don't see Israelis celebrating. You see Arabs celebrate every murder of Jews. Gee -- just like the Poles after each and every pogrom. You'd feel right at home in Gaza. Why don't you move there, you sloven?

Hamas STARTED this mayhem and reaped the whirlwind They cynically fired rockets from WITHIN built up locations and located their footsoldiers in places KNOWING BUT NOT CARING that children were in harms way because they declared MURDER OF GAZA CHILDREN created political leverage They even DELIBERATELY fired rockets at Jerusalem KNOWING one of them might have destroyed Al Aksa There were FOUR possible ceasefires that could have stopped further bloodshed - ALL broken by Hamas Ask any Gazan and they will tell you that they did not agree to this war they did not want it. And now even with Gaza STILL in RUINS the Hamas jokers are already preparing for another round It is Hamas and Hamas ALONE who have criminally caused the murder of Gaza children and left Gaza in ruins YOU may have forgotten BUT GAZANS NEVER WILL

It looks like this fellow is living in never never land, a land where everything is as he thinks totally unconnected with reality.

That's all very nice but if you really want a future for your kids you better aspire to getting rid of Hamas

You really have lost your marbles. 900 Gazan children killed in cold blood?? When are you going to stop inventing rubbish? Evidence, Split, give us the evidence, I want to see proof from you, of 900 kids killed. Waiting for you to put your money where your mouth is.

There was a time, you know, when any Gazan who wanted a well-paying job in Israel could have one. Many did. But then the ideology of the people changed -- came the suicide bombers, the screeching harpies such as the Window Rantis, came the kidnappings and attempted kidnappings, and the missile and mortar barrages. This is war, Bertram. I'm certain that there were a reasonable number of people in Germany who hated the Nazis, and hated the war, and knew that the Nazis were doing despicable things. But did that keep the RAF from destroying Dresden? Hamburg? Travemunde? Lubeck? No, it did not. So why should Israel hold back in Gaza? Are over one hundred thousand missiles and mortars in the past five years enough to warrant the Israeli response? And in Protective Edge, without Iron Dome, do you think Israeli cities would have had a different fate than London and Coventry during the blitz? I'm sorry, but the people of Gaza have to rise up against Hamas. They'll have help. Perhaps the only reason they haven't has to do with the fact that they're pretty much in Hamas' corner, and they support the vicious attacks on Israel. Not once has anyone mentioned the fact that during all the military actions against Hamas, Israel never once stopped humanitarian aid; never once stopped sending food and fresh water; never once turned off the supply of electricity, home heating fuel and petrol. Isn't that just a tadbit hypocritical? And the same people who weep and wail about the state of Gaza are the same people who allowed missiles, launchers and mortars to be stockpiled in schools -- which instantly turned those schools into legitimate military targets. You are almost as hypocritical as they are. And you are wrong about Israel. The Jewish people are united by the fact that they are Jewish and that we have no intention of allowing murderers and terrorist thugs to take it away from us. People used to say that Israel was threatened because the one thing that kept the Arabs united was the existence of Israel. How's that worked out so far?

Here's the timeline ,... ''The three teens were abducted on June 12. That same day Israeli authorities received a desperate phone call from one of the boys that contained gunfire at its conclusion. The supposition that the boys were dead was advanced when Israeli authorities found the car in which the abduction had taken place, with evidence they’d been shot. The information about the gunshots on that desperate last phone call was widely known in the media, but as we reported, the Israeli government issued a gag order against these facts being published. And over the last two-and-a-half weeks of June, the Israelis launched extensive raids across the West Bank, locking down Hebron, supposedly to find the boys. But the major focus ...of the raids was rooting out Hamas affiliates and arresting them. In fact, the purpose of the raids seemed to be to break up the recent unity government between Hamas and Fatah, which Israel has vigorously opposed. The boys’ bodies were found on June 30, in a shallow grave in the West Bank; and again the deaths were exploited to punish Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said then, “Hamas is responsible… Hamas will pay.” By June 16, Hamas increased rocket fire into Israel in response to the crackdown in the West Bank. Israel ramped up its attacks on Gaza conducting 6 airstrikes that wounded two. On July 7, eight days after the teens bodies were found, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, and it has now killed about 900 people in Gaza, most of them civilians. As in the case of Weapons of Mass Destruction, many observers and journalists never bought the Israeli story. We didn't. Annie Robbins picked up reports that Israeli authorities believed that a rogue faction of Hamas was responsible for the killings weeks before Donnison’s tweets– on June 16, she reported Hamas’s denial, calling the Israeli allegations “stupid", Allison Deger also reported as much as Max Fisher was on to the dishonest Israeli version at Vox''.

Your overlong post suggests that perhaps you are trying to convince yourself of your own argument, especially with regard to your misuse of historical parallels.Your comparison of Hamas with the well-oiled Nazi machine (that had conquered most of Europe) is pitiful, especially when viewed in relation to Israel, the strongest military power in the region. But all that misses the point. Israel has no option but to live with its Arab neighbours, so here's a thought: it might be a good idea to focus on the positive instead of just the negative.

Your timeline is a distortion of the truth. Quote from as many liars as you wish, there is not one word of truth in your entire post.

Thank you dear Sarah B. for laying out the true facts in your excellent post. The majority of the Gazan citizens have been so well brainwashed, they dont know the truth from the lies.

Thank you.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for all actions of all players...and they are. You can't try to obfuscate the truth by blaming a different obscure "faction" every time, when all roads lead to Hamas. You know this, but you insist on living in your fairy tales.

to wash. #11 fails the minimal requirement.