by Rory Walkinshaw

Created on: February 23, 2009

The decision by the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza was indeed unwise. The simple fact is that the Israelis had a wonderful opportunity to completely end, at worst temporarily, major terrorist attacks on their soil. The 22-day offensive, code-named Operation Cast Lead, should have been executed with a much more impor tant goal than simply stopping rocket attacks into Israel. The goal should have been to destroy Hamas as an organization from the bottom up. The problem with the assault was not that it happened, but that it did not last long enough. 22 days is certainly not enough time to completely dismantle an organization as entrenched within Palestinian society as Hamas.

For those of you who do not know, Hamas is more than just a vicious terrorist organization. They also have political and social welfare wings Hamas' main strength is that they provide services that the Israelis do not, such as schools and hospitals. Thus the secret to their immense popularity among the Palestinian population. From this massive base of popular support, Hamas is able to draw large numbers of recruits. Hamas also maintains and constructs intricate systems of underground tunnels between the Israeli-Egyptian border through which is smuggles weapons and explosives to aid in their struggle against the Jewish state. The need for a very long-term, sustained military operation in the Gaza is necessitated by the extent to which Hamas infests and has penetrated into Palestinian society in that area. In addition to their social projects, Hamas was elected and leads the government in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, with a supposedly large number of combatant personnel, Hamas military infrastructure is deeply entrenched in the urban areas. According to the Israeli Center for Intelligence and Terrorism, in a report dated February 16, 2009, "the many mosques in Gaza City serve not only religious functions, but are also put to military use by hamas and other terrorist organizations as well. They are used to hide terrorist operatives, store weapons, as sites from which rockets and mortar shells are launched, sites for launching terrorist attacks and for training terrorist operatives." The report provides the viewer with a collection of captured arms caches, including Kalsshnikov assault rifles and binoculars that were seized from a mosque pulpit during the offensive earlier this year. If this were not enough, Hamas members detained by the Israeli

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