You have a border with Egypt. It would seem there is no problem smuggling weapons & explosives. So why can't your crap Hamas gov't. smuggle spare parts? All the BS humanitarian arguments are propaganda lies - go tell it to the EU who fall for this crap. You know why the Palestinians don't ask Egypt? Because Arabs don't trust Arabs & wouldn't care if it was true anyway. So why should we? You sit & cry from one side of your mouth & from the other side, you curse us. You people are so undeserving of trust or sympathy that no one really cares anymore what happens to you.

to stop smuggling. Mubarak can not risk losing the American support. So, Mubarak prevents any move in or out across the borders; in adherence to his agreement with the Israelis. The solution is: Israel to press the American friend to make Mubarak extends hand of assistance to Gaza. In that case Egypt will take Gaza's imported spare parts From Israel to send into Gaza, better with deducted tax money !

You guys are said to make roskets out of water pipes...

I am deeply impressed by you compassion for those people. "No one is helping them, sho why should we?" Am man lies bleeding in the street. All passersby don't care, so why should I? A true virtue! No one is asking you to Shake hands with Sheikh xy or minister soandso. Think of the normal people. People like you. And me. And your friends. You also couldn't care less about the implicated environmental ramifications. Of course. No one here cares about the environment. This is probably because you all think "once we have won... But until then...." Or maybe you are waiting for Meshiach to clean beaches, streams forests and, and, and... Pathetic!

Mr. Najer is right, something should be done to help the Gazan Arabs. Israel should liberate the Strip from the Hamas and Palestinian Authority. The foreign Arabs that have flooded Gaza since 1993 should be sent back to where they came from. The destroyed Jewish villages should be reestablished to supply the Gazan Arabs with jobs.

then why are there daily Qassam deliveries to Sderot and the Negev? And I don't even don't want to go into discussing hostility vs normalcy.

so is sending your kid to kindergarten without the fear of never seeing them again because of a missle attack but we dont have that!

On the contrary. Most people around the world are concerned with the plight of the Palestinians and are well aware that they are subjected to an inhumane collective punishment. You are happy to stand by and watch a million plus people be herded into an open ghetto and you demonstarte no sympathy. Your attitude is no different to the Islamists you so readily attack.

"The truth is far from it. Safe access to clean water is a basic humanitarian right, which is apparently absent in the minds of Israeli decision-makers." Then shouldn't the Palestinian government make sure Palestinians get this basic right? Is there any other country in the world that relies on the very people they want to destroy to provide them with the basic right their government should provide? Perhaps Hamas should spend the money they smuggle for their infrastructure rather than bombs, guns and Qassams.

Voting for Hamas; tolerating their behavior ! This is the hostility that you deny.

to stop smuggling. Mubarak adheres to his agreement with the Israelis to not allow anything in or out of Gaza. As Mubarak can not risk losing American support, the solution is for Israel to convince the American friend to press Mubarak to help. Only in that case, Mubarak will take the imported Gaza's spare parts from Israel and hand them to Gaza, better with the deducted tax money.

Maher Najer, I sympathize with your concern for Gaza , a place where a few thousand Gazans can paint the entire 1.5 million with the blood of war. The willingness of the common people of Gaza to be represented by the mindless hostility of the rocket_men is at fault here. Israel is left with NO choice, but to turn the fuel, electricity, building supplies, perhaps the WATER off. 1.5 million Gazans have the following alternative: STOP the rockets, the mortars , the suicide bombers... OR suffer the consequences moshe Israel

People has the leaders they deserve. When you casted your ballot for the Hamas did you ignore what they were aiming to. Did you ever read the Hamas charter. So now you want to leave peacefully with your neightbours. What a lie! Go to hell, it is the best place to live for the liers.

being meted out on the Palestinian population is by Hamas. Palestinians will continue to suffer as long as a terrorist organisation (that was voted into government in democratic elections by the very same population) attacks Israelis on sovereign soil.

We just don't want any connection with gaza. It is our right to decide to do so.

This is war sad to say but true none the less. The people of Gaza have for all intents and purposes declared war on us. Don't you think it's time we admit it ? Don't you think it's time we stop enabeling them during this time of war ? If they refuse to make peace then what do we owe them. Nothing

Indeed, compassion is a true virtue. I have compassion for my family, my friends, my fellow Jews. I have compassion for those everywhere in the world who, through no fault of their own, are in desparate circumstances. But I have NO compassion for my enemies, for the enemies of my family, for the enemies of my friends, and for the enemies of my fellow Jews. And I have no compassion for the self-inflicted misery of our nasty neighbors. Do you understand what self-inflicted means? This is their doing, not ours. And, I have no compassion for those that follow an evil ideology of hate & intolerence. Would you ask me to have compassion for Nazis & their German & other European supporters? Shall I have compassion for those that follow a similar ideology? And you are naive as well as morally empty. You believe this BS propaganda disguised with reasonable rhetoric from people who lie every time they open their mouths. Perhaps you lack experience but I don't. I spent most of my life in an Arab country & while they may not do much else very well, they are certainly experts at deception. And lest you say I'm a racist, my best friends are Arabs & they have the same opinion as I do. You, on the other hand, are a naive sucker. Threats, intimidation, exaggerated predictions of doom & catastrophe are all part of traditional Arab rhetoric. So please take your self-rightous moralizing & mis-placed sympathy to another forum.

Typically, Israel is caught between a rock and a hard place. With virtually every action it takes. there is that downside. It shoudl make up it's mind what it wants from the Strip, AND what what it is prepared to give. The sanctions are absurd. The Kassams will continue unabated. I mean, what power does Joe Muhammad have in Gaza? Hamas rules..it is they who should police their little bit of hell. Again Olmert's admin is not getting it. Either...or get off the pot. Either disengage, or don't disengage. Egypt can, and won't police the Sinai..and smuggling or tunnel building. It has 1m soldiers..and more arms than Israel. So why the problemo? Israel is caught in a vice..and is confused again. The solution: hit the Strip hard and then harder and then harder still...it has the artillery and the rockets..So what's the problem? Make the Gazans bleed a little, not just unable to drive their Lexus cars and other vehicles stolen from Israel. If they want gasoline;;;let the Saudis supply it, or Jordan, or Egypt or Libya.

I support total disengagement from Aza. This includes all economic, poitical and all other involvement. They should be responisible for themselves. The problem is what to do about their sea coast and border with Egypt. Who is to control it? If Israel closes the sea then how can they get food or fuel? If Israel does not, then it is open to weapoins shipments. What is the answer?

If the Gazans are suffering(which I think it is a cynical exaggeration)Then they should have thought about it before they decided to elect a terrorist as their leader. if you sleep with dogs,you wake up with fleas..Simple as that. Gaza was relinquished and they turned it into a launching pad for the kassams instead of benefitting from the largess of the contributors who provided them with the "hot houses"the intact infrastructures and the end result is a typical Arab mentality...No patience or pity with their lot.Besides I do not see any of them thin,or starving.if they have enough money for weapons then,what's good for the goose is good for the gander...

Terry in Eilat, your assessment of the situation is Gaza is so true!! I could not have said it better myself. Don't forget People, this article is written by an Arab and we all know how they feel about us. But for some reason, I sense that this is going to backfire against the Israelis and I am not sure why.

"Most of us aspire for normalcy and peaceful life with our neighbors"

The question here is democracy and responsibility. When the Gazans elected the Hamas rulers in democratic elections they understood what Hamas stands for and thus must take responsibility for their actions. If the citizens Sderot cannot live in peace and quiet as a result of the actions of the Hamas government then those responsible - those who elected them and support them - must face the consequences. When Hamas realises that firing rockets and mortars into Israel in order to kill it's citizens is not worth their while then they will stop. Until then the Israeli government has every right to take every measure it feels legitimate to defend its citizens.

I got an idea.. Reroute all the Gaza-Israel utility connections through Sderot... when HAMAS bombs Sderot,make sure the connectors are in the usual landing zone.. thus with each attack let HAMAS destroy the infrastructure that provides them with services. And don't let them have access to the facilities to fix them until Jews are granted access to Temple Mount areas where the PA has damaged the compound.

They wanted us out and they got their wish we have no responsibilty to provide them anything. http://ralphsrant1.blogspot.com/

You say :".. (Gazans) are trapped in a pressure cooker ". SO, you want us to believe that due to the pressure the Gazans engage in sex and violence. Sex means population-explosion -- and violence means Kassam rocket attacks. Well Najer, you don't have to engage in sex and violence -- just by using a LITTLE bit of your brain. Your actions in Gaza reveals that you guys don't EVEN have a little bit of brain left. SO, the question that should be asked is HOW to give the Gazans some brain. Because without brain -- life is USELESS.

You mean the Palestinians? Is the wourd civilian from the word civil really appropriate. I rememeber a survey some 80% were in support of suicide bombers. So let 20% have electricity. Not to say those 20% are civil. :-o

I'll tell you what.There are 22 rich Arab countries who have kept these socalled palestinians(who are merely just Arab squatters)as pawns to try and annihilate Israel since its inception.I am sick and tired of their whining,always cap in hand whilst getting billions of dollars which only goes for the armilite instead of trying to huild a semblance of an entity.I think Israel should just leave them to it.They will either continue to stagnate or hopefully disappear altogether and join their brethren in Jordan.That is where by rights should be.Send them all to Jordan..Jordan is Palestine. Which brings to mind thanks to the devious Brits'who decided to create that artificial country at Israel's expense.So we lost a big chunk that should have been part of our Israel. With these people,you give an inch and they'll want a yard.I just give up! I am sorry to have descended to ranting,but how long will this state of affairs continue???