If wrongdoers persistently fired rockets into US cities from Canada, we'd expect the Canadian government to bring them to justice.  If it turned out they lacked the wherewithal to do so, I dunno what exactly we would do, but I doubt we'd stand idly by and let the rockets continue to kill Americans.

Israel and the US have spent years ensuring the Palastinians would continue to have a weak government. Hammas gained a foot hold when we marginalized the PLO. Year after year of expanding the settlements hasn't helped the situation either.

The Palastinian's will never be able to govern responsibly until they have a country to govern.

Hamas responded to the end of the ceasefire by pounding Israel with rockets.  Israel is now responding with unequal force.  Quite simply, both sides know there's going to be another ceasefire, but they want more concessions from the other side.  Hamas wants Israel to end a trade embargo and stop trying to destabilize its government.  Israel wants the rocket attacks to stop and probably wouldn't mind if Fatah took this opportunity to overthrow Hamas.  

Israel has had a lot of time to make peace with Palestinians and has refused to do so.

It is hard to see the Palestinians as aggressors. For Israelis to complain about terrorism is hypocritical. Israel was founded by terrorists. Modern terrorism could be said to have begun with the zionist bombing of the King David Hotel, which was the worst terrorist attack for decades.

They also assassinated UN envoy Count Bernadotte, among others. When that happens today there is a major outcry.

There are two possibilities. I favor the one state solution(which you can easily find details of)with the return of the Palestinians refugees and the abolition of Israel's racist theological laws like the "Law of Return" for Jews from around the world.

Most speak about the two-state solution. That is one of the simplest ones to institute. Israel simply has retreat beyond the Green Line. That means removing all police and military and all the illegal Jewish settlers. But with this, I fear the creation of two theological states.

The Hamas leadership will go to ground, and their chain of command doubtless will need to reconstructed.

Unfortunately, as I note in my blog:

As to final status negotiations, I do not believe that Israel can achieve its goals purely through military force, and I do not believe that the Palestinians, either Hamas or the PA are currently able to negotiate in good faith, as any serious good faith negotiations would result in compromises that would delegitimatize whoever made them.

I would also note the lesson of the American Civil War, where ambiguities that were "left for later", became the basis for conflict. Incrementalism is the enemy of a solution, not a friend.

One question: I found a story from a Swiss newspaper (translation here) that says that Israel sent warning SMS text messages to civilians surrounding the target areas...At least I think so, Google translate is not 100% clear.

While this morning's air strikes by Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza can be understood and even justified in the wake of recent rocket attacks, we believe that real friends of Israel recognize that escalating the conflict will prove counterproductive, igniting further anger in the region and damaging long-term prospects for peace and stability.

Respecting Israel's right to defend itself, we urge leaders there to recognize that there is no military solution to what is fundamentally a political conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples...

We call for immediate, strong diplomatic intervention by the United States, the Quartet and allies in the region to negotiate a resumption of the ceasefire which dramatically reduced violence and preserved quiet for over five months.

The United States, the Quartet, and the world community must not wait - as they did in the Israel-Lebanon crisis of 2006 - for weeks to pass and hundreds or thousands more to die before intervening.  There needs to be an urgent end to the new hostilities that brings a complete cessation to the rocket fire out of Gaza and that allows food, fuel and other civilian necessities into Gaza.

The need for diplomatic engagement goes beyond a short-term ceasefire.  Eight years of American neglect and ineffective diplomacy have led us directly to a moment when the prospects of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict hang in the balance and with them the prospects for Israel's long-term survival as a Jewish, democratic state.

We urge the incoming Obama administration to lead an early and serious effort to achieve a comprehensive diplomatic resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflicts.

This is a fundamental American interest as we too stand to suffer as the situation spirals, rage in the region is directed at the United States, and our regional allies are further undermined.  Our goals must be a Middle East that moves beyond bloody conflicts, an Israel that is secure and accepted in the region, and an America secured by reducing extremism and enhancing stability.  None of these goals are achieved by further escalation...

I also totally against the Palestinians for killing innocent people. The damage they do though is minimal as compared to Israel,  since all they got are rockets that for the most part are outdated and not very accurate .  Israel has an jet fighters, an army, tanks, missiles , satellite technology, etc etc.

 You can bet that Bush administration is giving the green light to Israel to bomb on this one also.

The treatment of the Palestinian by the U.S has always been one sided.  We gave and allowed every type of militarily weapons to Israel to include nuclear.  We give billion of dollars to Israel every year.  Yet the U.S does nothing equal for the Palestinians.  I do not think the US  think of the Palestinians as even human beings.

If you would just treat both sides with the same amount of equality, in all aspects there would be peace.  This whole conflict has been about the unjust taking of the Palestinians land sine 1948 or 1945 and the totally one sided treatment by the U.S in favor of Israel.  It was more in the manner in which Isarel took the land. They did not have a polite discussion with the Palestinians on sharing this land.  They just said, Ok the UN said we can take it and God's says its our land and that's all we need to justify what we do.

duh!

Nothing less, nothing else, will satisfy them.

So they encourage the 'settlers,' so-called 'civilians,' to expand their expansions into Arab lands. The IDF and the bulldozers soon follow, to 'punish' the Arabs who resist.

Been like that going in 40 years...Nothing's gonna change it, unless the US uses threats to suspend the massive (mainly military) aid, which it won't, cuz Israel is the US forward outpost and landing zone in the region...

Of course he never really meant it. His frustration would just come through at specific times when the various crises would erupt.

We are in 2008, complaining about 2005 is complaining about milk spilled two weeks ago. Israel didn't split the PLO and let Hamas control Gaza. Now you have an extremist violent group controlling Gaza and you have to deal with them. The Egyptians were smart enough and tried to extend the truce that just ended. They failed for reasons that are not clear to me. Israel has a clear interest in having a truce, Hamas less so but they also knew that without a truce a deterioration is unavoidable and don't need it. So personally I am stymied.

Daniel Levy's repetition that this and that should be done is amazingly shallow. Peace on earth would have helped too, but we are not there yet. The only question now is one of cease fire and not of the mindless and endless talked about recruiting terrorists, which by the way are typically recruited in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia due to internal problems in these countries.

Turns out, Hamas bites 'em in the ass...

The military said approximately 90 trucks were delivering medicine, fuel, cooking gas and other vital goods into Gaza. The shipment included a large donation of goods from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's wife as well as more than 150,000 gallons (400,000 liters) of fuel and 200 tons (180 metric tons) of natural gas, the military said.
Israel's Defense Ministry said it agreed to open its cargo crossings into Gaza to avoid a humanitarian crisis there.

link

Hamas set up relief centers to distribute the food and supplies which gave Israel a well populated target to ensure maximum carnage.

The public's imaginations are let loose as they chant a battle-cry. Fighter planes have already bombed dozens of targets in the heart of Gaza and tomorrow thousands of troops may storm its alleyways. On the third day the Israel Defense Forces might eliminate Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Mushir al-Masri and Mahmoud al-Zahar. It will seize the Hamas government's buildings and an army spokesman will display captured arm caches containing sophisticated missiles and thousands of guns to the press.

[...]

It should be remembered that Israel chanted the same slogans when the Second Lebanon War began, from which it came back badly bruised. The optimistic scenario did not materialize then and it is hard to believe it will now in Gaza. The legitimacy of the Lebanon war triumphed just as the war was lost.

Zvi Barel Haaretz via Laura Rozen