Hamas responsible for Palestinian misery

Frida Ghitis:

There was a time -- a rather short-lived moment in the history of the Middle East -- when the people of Gaza thought life would get better, and the people of Israel's town of Sderot thought they, too, would stop living in hell. ''We thought we would live in peace,'' one Israeli woman in Sderot told me.

That moment of dashed hopes came in the summer of 2005, when Israeli forces removed all the Jews in Gaza. With Gaza free of Israelis, Palestinians there would have full autonomy -- a step toward nationhood -- and Israelis could live without constant attacks. The optimists, as it turned out, were tragically wrong. Life has become even worse for people on both sides, with events in the last few days highlighting the need to find a solution to the dangerous Gaza predicament.

The Palestinian rocket attacks did not stop after the 2005 withdrawal. And when the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, took control of Gaza seven months ago, rocket and mortar attacks became far worse, keeping with Hamas' charter directive to destroy Israel. Gaza suffered international sanctions, made more intense by Israeli border controls. Living standards began plummeting.

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While news about the suffering of Gazans fills the airwaves, there is a peculiar disinterest in the nightmare that is life for the people of Sderot and its vicinity. Every day, every few hours, the sirens wail their warning, giving terrified parents and children less than 15 seconds to take cover. The rockets are deliberately aimed at civilians. They fall on schools and streets and day care centers. A recent study shows 56 percent of Sderot residents have had their home hit by a rocket or shrapnel. More than 90 percent say their street or an adjacent one has been hit, and almost 50 percent know someone who was killed in such an attack.

Every response by Israel draws international condemnation. Other countries have reacted to attacks against their population by pulverizing their opponents. Israel targeted militant leaders and tried economic sanctions. A recent cut in fuel supplies prompted Gaza to shut its power plant, even while Israel continued to provide, as it always does, almost 75 percent of Gaza's electricity needs.

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The people of Gaza are victims of their own choice of Hamas for their government. Their victim strategy against Israel should not be allowed to effect the response to their egregious attacks on Israel.