Editor's Letter
LINGERIE
Battling Ultimate Barbarity from page A5
Celebrating 62 rears in Busine
265 S. Old Woodward • Birmingh
— reminding the West it also was in
Hamas' sight lines, the PMW reported.
Gazan kids have become pawns in
Hamas' vow to never surrender.
No sooner did the PMW disclose
the Palestinian legislature vote than
Hamas issued a denial. But the PMW
confirmed that official Hamas leaders
proudly proclaimed in the Hamas-run
news media that the Islamic penal
code indeed was being prepared.
Senior Hamas leaders declared the
new laws similar to laws in Arab and
Islamic states like Sudan, Yemen,
Indonesia and United Arab Emirates.
They would supersede laws of the
British mandate.
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A6
January 8 • 2009
Alarming Strategy
While cracking down on wayward
Gazans even as it pelted southern Israel
with rockets, keeping schools there
closed, Hamas invigorated its propagan-
da. It reinforced itself as the victim and
portrayed Israelis as worthy of death.
Images on Hamas television include
pictures of Israeli skulls dripping with
blood; the caption reads, "Let them
taste violent death:'
Hamas, of course, is equally willing to
sacrifice its people, including kids, in its
war with Israel by hiding forces in nurs-
eries and hospitals and by developing
new explosives and mortars at Islamic
University. Gazans, including kids, are
indoctrinated to believe dying for Allah,
by serving as human shields for Hamas
fighters, is brave.
Hamas' current propaganda and
rocket campaign should not be con-
fused as the work of a ragtag militia,
as the Jerusalem-based Shalem Center
underscores. It's part of an ongoing
war orchestrated by Tehran and stag-
ing on multiple fronts: the Lebanon
border, inside Israel, now Gaza.
Make no mistake: Israel also is
fighting Iran, a common enemy of the
West and whose proxies Hezbollah and
Hamas are as dangerous to the world
order as Al Qaida. Hamas rockets
now penetrate 25 miles or more into
Israel; up to 1 million Israelis are in
range. This is no time for meekness
or an obligatory, temporary cease-fire;
Israel can only pull back if its border
is secure. The ultimate goal of all these
enemies is Israel's obliteration. A weak
Israel would be doomed.
still has accommodated at least 20
wounded Palestinians, including three
kids, who managed to elude Hamas
border guards.
Meanwhile, working with world
relief groups and other governments,
Israel has allowed more than 500
truckloads carrying 10,000 tons of
food, medical supplies and other
essentials as well as more than 105,000
gallons of fuel to enter Gaza. Israel also
supplies 70 percent of Gaza's electric-
ity. And Israel has dropped 800,000
leaflets printed in Arabic warning of
pending air strikes so Palestinian civil-
ians could flee if they wanted.
Clearly, responsibility for any
humanitarian crisis in Gaza should be
laid directly on Hamas, which refuses
to halt the rocket fire. Hamas holds not
only Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit hostage,
but also its people by stockpiling rocket
launchers and arms caches in mosques,
schools and apartment buildings, by
expanding tunnel passages to smuggle
arms from Egypt and by promoting sui-
cide bombings, drive-by murders and
shelling within Israel, thus daring an
Israeli response in self-defense.
Continued terror reinforces Hamas'
refusal to renounce violence, recognize
Israel as a sovereign state or accept
past peace accords. Last week, a young
Palestinian girl blamed Hamas, not
Israel, for her 4-year-old sister's death
in an Israeli air strike. Egypt, Saudi
Arabia and Jordan all have placed
blame for initiating the now 13-day-
old conflict at Hamas' doorstep.
The folly of a two-state solution, at
least now, has been exposed. A Jewish
and a Palestinian state existing peace-
fully side by side would occur only
if the Palestinian people themselves
willed it by installing moderate leader-
ship in all its sectors. Unfortunately, I
see no evidence of that happening any
time soon. Hamas represents the ulti-
mate in terror. Fatah isn't much better;
it talks up peace to Western leaders,
but continues to incite hatred of Israel.
Israel must stand against aggression
and we must stand with Israel. The fate
of the Jewish people, not just Israel, is
under siege.
Extending Aid
Should Israel just with-
stand constant rocket
fire without retaliating?
Embrace of "martyrdom" and the
afterlife, and saving face, have com-
pelled Hamas to stop Gazans from
seeking treatment in Israel or Egypt in
the wake of Operation Cast Lead. Israel
Do the Palestinian
people in Gaza have
any real recourse to
Hamas?