Lots of opinions here but no comment on the significance of the ongoing Gaza sanctions as the reason for the resumption of rocket attacks, as specifically mentioned by the author.

It's almost as if the attacks resumed for no reason beyond ethnic hatred but there are usually other factors behind most things happening in the Middle East.

Here's an article from almost 12 months ago on the possible intention behind those sanctions and it looks uncannily prophetic.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917385.html

semite meaning;a]A member of a group of'Semitic-speaking'peoples of the Near/East and northern/Africa,including the Arabs,Arameans,Babylonians,Carthaginians,Ethiopians,Hebrews,and Phoenicians...b]Bible.A descendant of Shem.

im not anti-semite'but'those who'murder'semites are

Leigh>>Israel’s mission...against the Hamas lunatics,..The only realism there is that Israel will retaliate a thousand fold,..How do you talk to lunatics!...Who fired the first shot after the“peace”agreement ran out>>

The corporate media in the U.S.has bent over backwards to portray Hamas as the villain in the latest round of'mass-murder'and carnage.In fact,Hamas has attempted to implement a ceasefire with Israel on numerous occasions.

“Israel rejected a cease-fire offer from the Palestinian group Hamas as a humanitarian aid crisis erupting in the Gaza Strip threatened wider instability,”the Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0425/p99s01-duts.html reported in April.“

[The]Palestinian group offered to cease cross-border rocket attacks if Israel opens crossing points into Gaza and ends military incursions into the Palestinian territory,”Al Jazeera reported.

In fact,Israel is notorious for violating ceasefires.For instance, on June 19,2008,Hamas and the Palestine Information Center accused the Israelis of violating an agreed upon ceasefire three times on the first day of its implementation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7462554.stm

“The Center reported that Israeli navy boats fired four shells at fishermen in the northern part of the Gaza Strip,while soldiers opened fire at farmers east of Khan Younis,in the southern part of the Gaza Strip,”the media center

“Also,eyewitnesses reported that soldiers fired at farmers in Khuza’a town,near Khan Younis,and fired at a number of houses in AL Qarara town,east of the city.”

Israel fully exploited'a'Hamas declaration on December 19 to not renew the above ceasefire“because the Zionist enemy has failed to respect the conditions,” according to Joshua Lapide, http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14046 reporting for Asia News.

“The Israeli government blames Hamas for not stopping attacks often carried out by smaller Palestinian factions,while the Islamists claim Israel also broke the truce by failing to lift its blockade of the impoverished territory.

Israel responded to a surge of violence in early November by tightening sanctions and closing crossing points with Gaza,halting deliveries of humanitarian aid and other supplies,basically transforming the Strip into one huge gulag.”

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/18803

http://www.prisonplanet.com/mumbai-attacks-blamed-on-al-qaeda-as-pretext-for-us-military-response.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/bolton-gaza-conflict-could-lead-to-us-attack-on-iran.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/may-we-no-longer-be-silent.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/don%e2%80%99t-fall-for-israeli-propaganda.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/slaughter-in-gaza-another-chapter-in-the-global-elite-master-plan.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-us-army-document-that-proves-the-us-is-the-worlds-number-one-sponsor-of-world-terrorism.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/how-come-israelis-can-criticize-israel-but-americans-cant.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/americans-want-balanced-treatment-of-israel-and-palestine.html

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/6558704.html

Until the international community places
a higher value on the humanity of the
Palestinians, than on Israel's vision of
its historic destiny, until the US withdraws
its support, peace in that area will not
come about.

IMO Hamas have bitten off more than they can chew here as well as clearly being in the wrong. You can't have a charter that calls for the destruction of your neighbour when you have stones and rockets to fight against M16s & other state of the art technology. On top of that, it's Hamas who initiated the end of a ceasefire. I don't think Sun Tsu would say all this was very smart militarily.

Of course the tactic all relied on outside help and winning the moral high ground in the eyes of the international community. And they got a rude surprise when it wasn't forthcoming. Without goodwill even from the Arab league, and half the Palestinian people, Hamas is looking more and more like a dinosoar. A protest of 17 000 against Israel in Cairo? That would be an embarrassment at any AFL game. I am currently touring in Arab parts of the world and was expecting the worst, but at this time of year, Arabs appear not to be taking time out of their holiday schedule to bat an eyelid at recent events.

To me, there are many things that paint Hamas for what they really are, but a stand-out was when Egypt was trying to get the wounded in from Gaza for treatment and Hamas deliberately blocked this.

Polycarp,
I note that you are hoping that Jews and Muslims will "embrace Christ as Messiah". You then go on to suggest a final solution:

"3/ Ethnically cleanse Gaza. Probably the most unpalatable but also most workable solution to the rocket problem."

Reinhard Heydrich would be impressed. But compare the rocket problem in Israel with the traffic fatality problem in Israel:

"[last year]... the [Israeli] National Road Safety Authority [brought] about a drop in road accident fatalities, from a record number of 518 people in 2004, through 476 people in 2005, 448 people in 2006 and 431 people in 2007."
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3594014,00.html

Now, plainly there is a difference in intent. There is usually nothing overtly political and/or murderous about driving to the shop or the next town and suddenly detouring toward eternity. Still, the comparison has been drawn before, earlier, in slightly different terms:

" ...the personal risk of road death is nearly twice as high in the United States as in Israel. And the risk of road death in the United States is nearly eight times higher than the risk of death from terrorism in Israel! Since we Americans readily accept the 145 per million risk of road death without worry, why has the US State Department warned us not to travel to Israel?"
The Jerusalem Post - January 8, 2002
http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/safety-in-israel.htm

Polycarp, I think you are up for third prize in my kneejerk competition. How many weeks will that be in Gaza? Amidst the noise and furore, you may decide whether strafings and missile attacks might be useful in reducing Palestinian traffic fatalities, in less troubled times.

I submit that it is easier for people of any faith to accept and trust Christians who behave like Good Samaritans, and seek the Golden Rule as a guideline when solving interpersonal and other social problems. So much else of Christianity is trappings and dogma. It's worth remembering that Heydrich received a lavish Christian funeral. Afterward, the village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia was burnt to the ground, with extreme prejudice.

One (small) criticism of Polycarp's(and many others) stance ie wipe out Hamas.
Show me where in history violent suppression and the imposition of deprivation has worked against an ideal?
Christianity,Hinduism,Judaism?
Cuba perhaps, Starlingrad,London during the Blitz? Berlin during the airlift,Where?
Old expression "time heals all wounds as it wounds all Heels(us term)!