When Israel removed the civilians it had transferred onto Palestinian territory it held under belligerent occupation, the Palestinian agreed to cease firing, but the Israeli regime refused to do the same. Regardless of Israel's unwillingness to stop its acts of terrorism, the Palestinian in Gaza maintained a one sided cease fire for many months, while Israel continued its attacks upon civilians such as firing tank shells into a peaceful protest march and shooting children for sport,, culminating with Israel killing an entire family on the beaches of Gaza. During that time, not one attack upon Israeli occupation forces or Israel proper was committed by Palestinians and yet the Israelis continued their acts of terrorism upon the civilians of Gaza. So let’s be sure to remember that when the Palestinian ceased fire when Israel removed its illegal settlers from Gaza, it was Israeli who kept attacking innocent civilians until that cease fire broke down and not the Palestinians.

Land use as a base to launch missiles against the Israeli homeland must be seized as an uninhabited buffer zone. This certainly includes Lebanon up to the Litani, and may soon include all of Iran. This is not Israels choice, it is the choice of the war loving Arabs/Muslims. A defensive policy only guarantees endless war.

Alan Dershowitz made a similar suggestion during the spate of suicide bombings years ago. All the more relevant now, the concept should be implemented to push back the Qassams and make the Palestinians pay a real price for their actions. In the loathesome "death culture" of the Palestinians, killing terrorists is only adding fuel to the fire and giving them just what they want-- martyrdom and 70 virgins in Paradise!

At last an original idea! Good for you!

"‘Land is gained through peace, lost in war’ " CLAPPING LONG HARD ALONG WITH HAPPY DANCE COMMON SENSE! This is the mentality that gave Israel peace with Egypt and cold peace with Syria etc. It is the only way to ever achieve peace with the Palestinians. They will never accept how things are now as long as they believe they have hit the bottom and can lose no more.

many say hamas is waiting for the idf to come into gaza. this will make peace talks difficult and unit most pal groups to one goal. this is hamas's short term goal. long term , it has it's eyes on the west bank.

Excellent idea....Palesti ans fire missles, Israel retakes territory and holds it as any other country at war would do.

Punish all acts of terror by: 1. Cutting electricity, gas, water 2. Indiscrimiately firing back returning terror for terror. 3. Channeling water canal along Philadelphi road to prevent smuggling 4. Take land back and possibly make the land unusable by dumping garbage and toxins again costing them real estate. The more the terror the greater the loss. 5. Specifically target and long term destroy Qassam launch sites rendering them unusable by any means regardless of the previous use of the location.

If they permanently lose territories, they will understand that war is not an option. Israel must flatten Northern Gaza and rebuild Gush Katif.

"The failure of disengagement, Hamas’ Gaza takeover, and the ongoing Qassam rocket attacks [...]" (1) The Disengagement has not been a failure as it has greatly reduced both the terrorist threat and actual attacks. (2) WE are the ones who created Hamas in the first place. (3) There were qasamim raining down on Israel before the disengagement. As far as the rockets prompting territorial losses, yeah, that strategy has worked REAL well in the past forty years. Anything else, Schmauser?

Just bombard them heavily enough before going in, and they won't be able to put up a fight. Give them same hell as Soviets gave to Germans and they will learn not to shoot those Qassams.

What Zvi proposes is surely a good beginning, but this approach is flawed as well. The fundamental problem is that since 67 there has never been a downside to Arab terrorism. Israel should annex parts of pre-67 territory in exchange for every terrorist act. Only when Arabs can see that their territory continues to shrink because of terrorism will they be willing to both stop their atrocities and negotiate in good faith. If you think about it - it is the growth of settlements that brought them to the negotiating table for the first time. Far from being an "obstacle to peace", as western media would have one believe, Jewish settlements are critical to peace process. We just need more of them.

Lev is right in their thinking, if Israel stops its "aggression" then they will stop the terror. The problem is by their definition breathing is part of the aggression. Lev stated it quite clearly "When Israel removed the civilians it had transferred onto Palestinian territory it held under belligerent occupation" Now this means removing all Jews from what is now Israel and restoring Muslim rule to the land. Then there will be peace in the Holy Land - because there is no one left to attack here. Then there would be terror for another (false) premise and attacks would occur elsewhere - say until Madrid was again under Muslim control. Back in 2002 I suggested the following: As of today we will talk about 100% of the territory we won when we were needlessly attacked. But for each terror attack we will reduce the total. 1% for each shooting, 3% for each bomb and 5% for each Israeli death - civilian or solider. The first 2% that will be removed from the discussion is the temple mount. So which of your groups would like to be responsible for taking this forever out of your future? And the waqf will be run like the Christian churches in the old city. Any Muslim country that recognizes Israel's right to exist can send a single representative to help run the mosque. Otherwise you are not welcome in a country you do not acknowledge.

Every time they shoot the rocket another thug must be hit. It worked very well, when IDF hit Rantissi and the guy on the wheel chair with the rug on his head.

I first wrote the Israeli gov't to adopt this policy the year I made aliyah: 1985!!! They patronizingly poo-poohed my idea back then as crazy. About time it got some hearing!!! It's only taken 22 years!!! Now let's see, it takes 22 years for folks to comprehend, so what I publish now... PS: the most popular Israeli Jewish newspaper not publishing candlelighting times on Erev Shabbat and Erev Khag in its on-line counterpart is a disservice to Jewish readers and a disgrace to Israel. Even ha-Aretz publishes candlelighting times. Paqid Yirmeyahu IIsraeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

The way to stop terrorism is to kill terrorists. The systematic elimination of Hamas leaders is the way to go. This includes political leaders like Haniyah, clerics, spokesmen, as well as gang leaders & armed thugs. This combined with the destruction of any arms caches, Hamas-affiliated offices & other infrastructure, Kassam manufacturing facilities, as well as the homes of Hamas leaders, will bring results. This can be done without a full-scale invasion or re-occupation. Large operations with specific targets, repeated over & over, even daily, quick in-and-out along with air & sea assistance will be sufficient. At the same time, intelligence-gathering operations should be launched to obtain new targets. Believe me, if we kill 5,000 Hamas members & associates, there will be no more Kassams.

'Hit them where it hurts, in their pockets'. Notice the difference everyone knows what is important to the Palestinians: their land, their soil. Likewise everyone knows what is the most important thing for Zionists: money, money, money; US$, how much they can screw out of the dumb US taxpayer.

on the other hand, if you want peace and are prepared to live with Israel as a Jewish State, then you will have a good neighbour.

"Israel is afraid to go into Gaza". Are you talking about Israel taking over the strip or going into it? Just last week 30 tanks entered, killed around a dozen Hamas members, captured 50 and then withdrew. Israel has no intention of taking over Gaza and policing 1.4 million people. Taking a few kilometers of the strip like the author quite rightly says is a good idea but going deeper would simply mean that Israeli soldiers would get killed for nothing because after Israel withdrew the situation would be back to square one. Israel values the lives of its citizens and is not gung-ho about putting them at risk, and this has nothing to do with fear. People are suffering in the strip but very few are injured and even less die and this must be weighed against a major incursion. Mike

Israel has outlasted greater civilizations than the Palestinians: the Egyptionas, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, the Iniquizition, the Nazis. the Soviet Union. You should encourage Palestinians to make peace, not to pursue their folly until Israel stops defending herself.

I have never understood why a third option was never considered when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, that is, withdraw civilians but retain a military presence. Now, the least we can do is to re-establish our military in the northern sector.

this is what Qassam operatives praying for.....they waiting to have justification to launch rockets from roof tops & populated areas to maximize the civilian casualties on IDF response...... ...will it not make EU Solana-Waldner to shed tears hence make them on top of the list of frequent flyers to Gaza?

Your'e a real true IDIOT. Crawl back into your hole and stay there. You putz! The Pals will still be broke and the donors of the $$ will regret their decisions.

Stay in Russia, you belong THERE the old guard of true anti semitism and a friend of terrorists. See how russia is reduced to poverty so much so, russian mothers take their kids to orphanges just to FEED them. Thank G-d my family left that hell hole after WW!!. You think Israel should be destroyed? Think again you a**hole. She will flourish and russia will still be backwater third world 'society' of former communism the 70 year road to nowhere. Thanks for showing US what russia represents, IGNORANCE ON A GRAND SCALE WITH NO BENEFITS IN SIGHT! Unless you love terror.

A policy needs to be learned. Political correctness and arabs are complete opposites. There is none. Israel should say, "for each rocket you launch in an attempt to kill innocents, we will launch 10 at your population centers" The missiles will stop immediately! Also, the Hamas devils may have to be forced by submission to the bargaining table. It worked on Germany, Japan, amongst many others. Also, at the Hamas and Jihad funerals with 20,000 screaming dogs, Israel should fly bombers over the area, and shower them with pig grease. Those people will never be able to have their 73 ugly virgins. Ha! Now that's political correctness!