By the Rocket's Glare

Even as the mortars and rockets continue pummeling Israel's cities and towns within range of Gaza, the Israeli leadership still thinks that a ceasefire is a good idea. Indeed, some within Olmert's Kadima party are claiming that the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is escalating the violence there. That's getting things backwards as Hamas has been increasing the level of attacks for months on end, and Israel is still restraining itself to such a degree that the restraint is mistaken for weakness by the terrorists. That's why they continue to attack Israel mercilessly.

Hamas admits that the massive blast that leveled a building in Gaza, killing four people and wounding 40+ was a result of their own incompetence. They blew themselves up preparing for a major operation against the Israelis.

Note also that Hamas was preparing for a major attack on Israel even as Israel continues to consider a ceasefire. Hamas has no interest in a ceasefire except as to give it time to regroup and rearm. Israel stands to benefit little from such a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas says that Israel and the PA have reached an agreement on 80% of the issues previously addressed before Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. This is news? Israel offered even more than that when Prime Minister Ehud Barak make his offer at Camp David, and Yasir Arafat turned it down without so much as a counteroffer. We're retreading old ground here, and Abbas wants people to think that progress has been made since that is the only reason he's still around - he needs to have the appearance of doing something to justify continued foreign aid from the US and EU.

UPDATE:
It's been one year since Hamas took over Gaza and tossed Fatah thugs from rooftops across Gaza. It's a year that Gazans would probably like to forget since things have only gotten worse since Hamas laid claim to controlling the territory. MSNBC would like readers to think that this is somehow Israel's fault, despite the fact that Hamas demands nothing less than the destruction of Israel and isn't beyond the murder of Palestinians to reach that result. MSNBC also ignores the fact that Hamas and other terrorist groups purposefully sought to attack fuel shipments, utility lines, and even staged blackouts so as to try and sway public opinion against Israel. Any cuts to power and fuel shipments rest solely on Hamas and the other thugs in charge.

It is the policies imposed by the Palestinian terrorists that dictate what happens there.