tired of war. However, many of them are convinced by their leaders that only warlike conduct could put pressure on the other side to address its demands. In fact, the Israeli government has been emphasising that Hamas is mistaken if it believes that the rockets would make Israel to open the borders. It does not know that Hamas would not be relevant unless it puts across the demands of the Palestinian people when the whole world is looking. It should now be clear to Israel that there could be no peace if the borders are not opened. It should also be clear to Hamas that there could be no peace if rockets continue to hit Israeli towns. What is the solution? The solution is to have a functioning Palestinian government which is capable of putting arms and security personnel under executive control and where war making powers are granted by elected members of Parliament. Hence what is to give security to Israel is not calling for the impossible, that is, the disarming of Hamas. It is to call for a functioning Palestinian state which would have a national army and security forces which would be under executive control. This is the way forward for lasting peace. ]]>
