Today, Israel’s security cabinet endorsed the recommendations of its Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, and designated Gaza “a hostile entity.” Israel will now cut the fuel and power—though not water—supplies to the Strip.

Hamas has angrily labeled the decision “a declaration of war.” This may be so. But given that Hamas’s charter denies Israel’s right to exist; that Hamas rejected the Oslo accords; that it has been trying to bomb Israel out of existence through suicide attacks since 1994; that it has refused to renounce violence even after countless overtures by the international community and the Palestinian Authority; that it insists “armed resistance” is a legitimate means to fight the “Israeli occupation” of, well, Israel; and that, since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, a barrage of Kassam rockets have been falling daily from Gaza on Israel’s southern areas—given all these factors, should Hamas really be surprised or outraged that Israel finally has taken notice of Hamas’s declaration of war and responded in kind?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 3:31 PM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.