Things That Make Middle East Peace Difficult

John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article yesterday about the collapse of an underground tunnel going into Israel that was being repaired. The article reminds us that in the last Israeli war, Israel destroyed thirty or more tunnels built by Hamas for terror attacks into Israel. The collapse of the tunnel as it was being repaired killed seven Hamas members.

The article reports what was said at the funeral of these Hamas members. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s deputy chief, said:

There are heroes east of Gaza City, digging the rocks and building tunnels. And west of Gaza, heroes are testing rockets every morning and every day and it is all preparations.

Under the ground and above the ground, in tunnels and above the ground and into the sky, with rockets and in the sea and everywhere, it is the permanent preparation for the sake of Jerusalem and Palestine, and for the sake of the intifada of Jerusalem and the sake of our people.

If the people who are supposed to negotiate peace are celebrating people who were killed repairing a tunnel to be used for terrorism, the chances of actually negotiating anything that would result in peace are slim to none.

Just as a side note, the crowds for the funeral of the Hamas members were so large that people were standing on a roof to see the funeral procession. The roof collapsed.

Until Hamas terrorists are no longer celebrated, there is no reason Israel should even consider making peace with the ‘Palestinians.’ Thus far, giving up land for peace has only provided Hamas with more places to launch rockets against Israel and build terrorist tunnels. Why in the world should they be given more land in the name of peace?