I would strongly recommend that anyone interested in this subject read the recent Vanity Fair article describing the run-up to the Hamas takeover in Gaza. The contention of this article is that the administration triggered this coup with a ham-handed attempt to arm a wing of Fatah, believing that a military defeat of Hamas was possible. Hamas then made a preemptive strike, easily defeated Fatah, and took control of all the arms the US had been sending in to defeat them.

If you accept the premise of this article, you have to understand that this administration is ideologically incapable of negotiating a peace in the Middle East. The best we can do is hope for a better set of minds to take over after the election. Until then, the goal of the US should be to inflict as little additional damage to the region as possible. The current US "peace process" is a mirage, which would be laughable if it weren't so sad...

Daoud,
You fail to mention that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2006. Since then, it faced constant rocket attacks. Last month, these were estimated at 2,700 since 2006. So in 1.5 years, it has experienced 2,700 rockets fired at its towns and cities. In the last 2 weeks, Hamas has fired 25-50 kassams and more advanced rockets per day at Sderot and other towns. HOW CAN ANY COUNTRY LIVE LIKE THIS?

Israel tried cutting off electricity. They tried cutting off supplies. They said that they'd restore everything once the rocket attacks cease. Then, you label Israel as inhuman. The Palestinians are suffering and the Israelis are responsible.

I think it is inhuman that Hamas held its people hostage in order to fire rockets at Sderot. Yet, so many of you blame Israel and not Hamas. All they had to do was to stop firing rockets.

Now, those rockets are resulting in deaths. Not just property damage and insane fear but deaths. So Israel is pressured by its domestic population to reinvade. It reinvades and withdraws. Israel wants peace. It doesn't want to reoccupy Gaza. It wants to behave humanely. However, it also wants the rockets to STOP!!

Mr, Kuttab, don't give up on the peace process. Realistically, it will not happen under Bush. Bush doesn't care. It's not that he has any love for Israel. It's that he doesn't care about the issue. If the democrats are victorious in the elections, there will be one of two leaders (Clinton or Obama) who will be dedicated to finding a solution. I hope it will be a solution acceptable to both sides.

However, I also will say that if Hamas wants to be in on the discussions, it has to stop the rocket fire and the violence! Hamas will impede any efforts at peace processes if the rocket fire doesn't stop. Why would Israelis want to make peace under a hail of rocket fire?

The US has failed to be a true broker of the peace for decades. This administration is even less inclined to be fair and equitable, ensuring that both sides are treated equally and held to the same standard. Frankly, they are inept.

As for the problem with Gaza, had Israel and the US dealt with the Hamas government at the start, they might have discovered that having been foisted into the position of responsibility, Hamas would have stepped up. Instead, they rejected the election results, isolated Hamas and Gaza, and just proved to the Palestinians what Hamas has said all along; The US and Israel are dishonest and uninterested in peace. Now there are a million and a half people crammed into a narrow strip of land with not work, no trade, and no hope. Israel thinks they can wait them out, but all they are accomplishing is radicalizing more people.

Find a way to engage them! Talk to them through the Egyptians, or the Saudis, but talk to them! If they don't, nothing will be solved and the innocent will continue to die on both sides of the fence.

Yes, Israel's miltary might be "overkilling" it a bit, but when you consider that many of the countries in their region refuse to even acknowledge their political existence, is it any wonder why Israel feels the need to demonstrate sometimes that they are powerful and will do anything to protect themselves? Why not tell Saudi Arabia to offically recognize Israel? Or Syria? Or even the crazies in Iran? As soon as the region accepts the reality that Israel is legitimate and can conduct real diplomatic relations, tensions will probably ease and Israel will be more amenable to negogtions.

I wonder what Americans would think/do if the democratically elected Mexican government allowed/facilitated/endorsed or just stood by as Mexican "activists" or "terrorists" lobbed thousands of missles over the US/Mexico border, forcing American children to plan their route to school in terms of shortest distance to the nearest secure bomb shelter....
How long before US forces were on the ground in Mexico, targeting "insurgents" and creating "collateral damage"?