Silence the guns in Gaza

Israel and Hamas must heed a U.N. Security Council call for a "durable and fully respected" cease-fire in the war in the Gaza Strip, which has left about 800 dead and 3,000 wounded, including hundreds of Palestinian women and children. Undoubtedly, Hamas can find a way to keep terrorizing southern Israeli cities with rockets, and Israel has the might to continue pulverizing Gaza, but for what? There are no lasting military solutions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We don't know yet how much of a military setback Israel has dealt to Hamas in the two-week air and ground assault, though it is hard to imagine it will be sufficient to justify the casualties and destruction in Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. Weapons stockpiles and supply tunnels have been destroyed; leaders of the military wing and fighters have been killed. That may eventually buy short-term relief for the people of southern Israel who live under a rain of rocket fire, and whose government has every obligation to secure their safety. But rather than weaken Hamas politically, it seems just as likely that the effect of the bloody siege will be to harden sentiment against Israel on the Palestinian street and drive new recruits into the arms of Hamas' military. Demonstrations against Israel around the world -- including one 50,000-strong in Alexandria, Egypt, on Friday -- make it more difficult for Palestinian and Arab moderates to win support. The battering of Hamas and Gaza also weakens Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel's West Bank negotiating partners in Fatah. That's not good for Israel.

The Gaza war has the support of upward of 90% of Jews in Israel. They are rightfully fed up with Hamas, an organization that has killed hundreds of Israelis, glorifies suicide bombers as martyrs of liberation and even today does not recognize Israel's right to exist. Israelis blame Hamas for endangering its own people, because the militants are firing from densely populated areas and hiding among civilians. Again, Israel's case is as strong as its tactics are poor.