The blockade of Gaza should take place simultaneously with the ceasing of rockets into Israel.

[kelliekat44]

If this is not part of the agreement, I fear Hama will not accept any cease fire agreement that puts discussion of removing the blockade to a later time.

[morningfog]

1. Lifting the blockade as part of the cease fire is Hamas position. And

Abbas has now taken that position as well.

[hack89]

2. Only with strict inspection by a neutral third party of all goods entering Gaza

lets not forget why Israel implemented the blockade in the first place.

[hack89]

6. So you want the next war to be the last war

as Hamas acquires enough offensive weapons to actually threaten Israel. What do you think Gaza will look like after such a war?

Making Hamas stronger makes the reoccupation of Gaza and the destruction of Hamas a near certainty.

[hack89]

11. Israel is fighting with one hand behind their back

they have the firepower to flatten Gaza without a soldier entering Gaza. 2000 lb JDAM bombs are devastating - right now they are using small missiles to minimize damage.

Hezbollah had a huge military advantage of lots of land giving them room to maneuver. They also had room to retreat if necessary. Hamas has no such advantage - the IDF will fix them in place and level the buildings they are fighting from.

[hack89]

21. If Hamas acquires the weapons you want them to have

and uses those weapons to kill thousands of Israeli citizens (which is the obvious result of your desires) then international law says Israel can respond in a like manner to eliminate the threat.

The obvious solution is to make sure Hamas never gets that capability.

[malaise]

17. This is actually even worse than apartheid

as if that is possible.

[ann---]

27. Exactly

why should Israel be allowed to "defend" itself, yet the Palestinians are not? Apartheid is wrong. America knows that but ignores what Bibi Yahoo is doing.

[Fozzledick]

3. Hamas has made it clear they won't hold to ANY cease fire

and lifting the blockade would only make it easier for them to rearm and continue the violence.

[hack89]

7. A fair fight would leave Gaza razed to the ground

you really don't want Israel to start using their firepower.

[anti partisan]

9. Unintentionally funny statement - "A fair right would leave Gaza razed to the ground"

That doesn't sound like a "fair fight" now, does it?

[hack89]

13. If Hamas gets the ability to kill large numbers of Israeli civilians

it would be. The point is the present fighting is low on the lethality scale. As Hamas gets more effective weapons, the wars will become increasingly more and more lethal - and Gaza will suffer proportionately more.

[anti partisan]

16. No, if it were truly "fair", Israel would suffer an equal amount as Gaza

Or maybe there would be enough deterrent for them to stop their belligerent policies and there would be something resembling peace.

[hack89]

20. And we know that Isreal will never let it get to that point

so what is to be done. Let Hamas arm themselves and light the fuse on greater suffering. Or find away to ensure Hamas has no offensive capabilities. Why not let Hamas have short range defensive weapons and forgo long range rockets?

[Tetris_Iguana]

26. What's the tangible benefit to fighting fair?

Much more merciful to settle the matter quickly and decisively instead of letting fester, IMO.

[anti partisan]

12. Exactly!! Don't forget nukes too.

As more of a demilitarization type, I don't support this, but I've had it with all these inane arguments against the idea of letting the inhabitants of Gaza not starve and suffer in poverty.

You know, maybe they wouldn't be likely to fire homemade rockets if their lives weren't so bad?

[Lee-Lee]

18. Had they put all that effort into importing food instead of rockets

Maybe their lives wouldn't be so bad?

Seems priorities are a bit off...

[anti partisan]

19. A small MINORITY import rockets/materials to make them

And the majority suffer as a result.

Don't say "they" as if the majority of the Palestinians support rockets over food.

I don't support rocket shooting either, it's counterproductive to peace. Heck, so dumb that the conspiracy theorists seem to think that Israel is helping supply them with rockets so that they have a pretext to launch an offensive.

[hack89]

14. Interesting = a lot of dead Palestinians

which is why stopping Hamas from rearming is in the best interest of all involved.

[hack89]

23. Once Hamas accepts the right of Israel to exist

as a Jewish homeland. Lets not forget that Hamas was founded with the goal of "liberating" all of Palestine from the Jews.

They will have to be reasonable on certain things, especially right of return.

[hack89]

25. Not if the elimination of Israel truly is their goal

because you know what that will mean - more rockets, more suicide bombers. Why is it so hard for them to say they will accept a Jewish state to reassure Israel?

[Larkspur]

29. Only after Israel accepts the right of Palestinians to have a viable land and

accepts the right of Palestinians to return to their homes or be paid reparations for the theft of their land by Israel.

[hack89]

30. Israel does accept that

they have made offers to the Palestinians several times before. They even withdrew from Gaza as a ill conceived good will gesture.

Reparations are reasonable as long as they are part of a package that pays reparations to the hundreds of thousands of Jews expelled from Arab lands post Israeli independence.

[NaturalHigh]

28. Yeah, let's just trust Hamas not to bring in more rockets.

That will work out well. They've always been such peaceful and trustworthy sorts.