Is Hamas the only guilty party?

Contrary to what Ms. Ahmad wants us to believe, Hamas is the solely responsible party for the current Gaza crisis.

On August 2006 Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza, evicted thousands of Israelis from their homes and eradicated four Israeli prosperous settlements from the Gaza strip, hoping disengagement would eventually lead to peaceful co-existence. However, for the last seven years Hamas kept shelling the neighboring Israeli cities and settlements in the south with a daily barrage of deadly rockets. Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza as Ms. Ahmad would like us to believe.

Israel targets Hamas' warriors and leaders. Hamas, cynically, uses its own citizens as human shield and its mosques as ammunition storage and rockets launching sites.

She wrote that this is a disproportionate attack by Israel. Fact is that Israel's prime minister warned Hamas numerous times before the retaliation started.

Ms. Ahmad calls for the end of occupation. The truth is that Israel has not occupied Gaza for many years. No one wants Gaza, not even Egypt's Mubarak, who knows that this is a hornet's nest. Islam forbids it to make peace with its enemies. It is looking for getting anything Israel is willing to give for free and then continue its deadly attacks in order to fulfill its charter.

No nation in the world would stand for its citizens being rocketed from across its borders.

There will never be a diplomatic solution as long as Hamas rejects Israel's right to ever exist in peace. Hamas asked for this war. Both Egypt and Fatah have clearly blamed Hamas for pushing Israel into a military reaction. Innocent Gazans should blame Hamas, not Israel, for turning their cities into a war zone. Amit Dembsky Oak Park