In Hiding

So, Hamas leaders realize that they've crossed a line that puts their own personal existence in jeopardy. They've gone into hiding, worried that the Israeli military will take them out in airstrikes or artillery strikes and provide them with a 21 gun sendoff.

Israel, which is negotiating a peace deal with moderate Palestinians based in the West Bank, has made it clear it has no intention of implementing any accord until Hamas is removed from power in Gaza.

The Islamic militants, who are committed to Israel's destruction, violently wrested control of the tiny seaside territory in June from security forces loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel's partner in peace negotiations.

In a related development, a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's said Hamas' days were numbered.

"I believe the combination of (Israeli) steps against Hamas in Gaza will bring an end to the Hamas regime in Gaza," Vice Premier Haim Ramon said. It might take a few months, but "the Hamas regime in Gaza will not last," Ramon told reporters in Jerusalem.

Hamas leaders weren't taking any chances, Hamas officials said.

Israel is busy negotiating with Palestinian terrorists who also seek Israel's destruction, but are far more coy in their overall intentions. Fatah is no less dedicated to Israel's destruction than Hamas, although its leaders have gotten sidetracked by siphoning off monies donated by the West for their own personal aggrandizement.

Meanwhile, Hamas continues to spew forth its anti-Jewish propaganda on its agitprop outlet. Fatah is silent over that, despite its Oslo obligations to cease and desist from all incitements to violence and anti-Semitism.

Fatah also refuses to condemn the incessant rocket attacks, and instead calls Israel's reprisal attacks against the very terrorists who engaged in the terrorism massacres.

Shas, noting the Jerusalem Post story yesterday, says that it will quit the government if the report is true. I'd bet serious money that the story is true, but Olmert and company will deny that they put the status of Jerusalem on the table. They'll attempt to weasel out of admitting that they were negotiating away Israel's inalienable right to its undivided capital of Jerusalem.