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Hamas' Handiwork

(The Times-UK) Editorial - When Israel ended its occupation and removed its settlements in Gaza in 2005, the territory might have become the focus of an emerging Palestinian state. Instead, it has been a base for rocket attacks against Israeli towns across the border. Having lost patience, Israel launched a military offensive on Gaza a fortnight ago. Israel has not only the right but the obligation to protect its civilians from remorseless rocket attacks. Hamas has been the instrument of that terror. The deaths of Palestinians, many of them children, are the direct and predictable outcome of Hamas' tactics and its use of civilians as, in effect, human shields. Israel has a just cause. Hamas has a purely destructive one and has disastrously urged Palestinian civilians to stay put. Far from preventing militants from firing rockets into Israeli towns, Hamas has enthusiastically joined in. Rejecting proposals for cease-fires, it continues to target anywhere in Israel that is within reach. Critics of Israel point to the relative lack of Israeli casualties compared with Palestinian ones. That is not a sign that Israel is using disproportionate force, however. It is a reflection of the effectiveness of Israel's missile defense system.
2014-07-21 00:00:00
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