Such a waste of lives, property and dignity, just to pave the way for the next and bigger waste of lives, property and dignity over Gaza.

Condeleeza Rice forced a ceasefire down Israel's throat, co-signed by Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Britain and the EU...the usual gang of warmongers. This, as the IDF was poised to rid the world of Hamas and bring in Fatah to rule Gaza. It's heads or tails anyway you look at it. But for this fight, Israel had the quiet, jubilant backing of Egypt, Fatah and the ruling establishment of much of the Arab world. It won't ever be this good diplomatically again.

Knowing that the government was about to betray the south of the country, and its bravest soldiers who saw comrades fall for nothing, as usual, an atrocity was launched to immediately change public opinion. In the spirit of the shadow government's slaughter of Arabs in 1994 to push along the withdrawal from Hebron, another Arab was chosen as the object of the Israeli people's instinctive pity. A Gazan surgeon who works in Israel, Dr.Izzeldin Abublaish, had his home targeted by an Israeli tank, losing three daughters, and the hideous scene was reported seconds later by the grieving, shocked doctor by cellphone to TV Channel Ten's reporter Shlomi Eldar.

And if you think this ghastly massacre wasn't planned, then you don't know the psychological warfare the Israeli government and media play with the people.

Now with Israel pulling out, Hamas will tell its people they won. And God save anyone who disagrees.The little bully Hamas will shout that Israel cheated. They played dirty. And the mean old Americans backed them up, thus, we stood up to the greatest fighters on earth. Therefore, we are the bravest of them all.

(He said we were hiding all through the fighting. That's slander. Behead him.)

But bigmouth Hamas knows he was overpowered and he's already preparing to bring bigger kids with him next time. But first, a little body-building course is called for. And someday the pipsqueak boaster is going to grow up and he's going to be bigger than Israel. And Israel will regret not finishing him off when they had their chance. But Israel chickened out and it will eventually pay for it.

For now, Israel is going to learn that mass destruction isn't winning. That 1400 enemy bodies isn't winning. Only victory is winning.

This is in stark contrast to the war I fought in, the Lebanon War of 1982. Then, the government stated the war's goal was to remove the PLO from the region. To do so, at great cost, it entered Beirut and surrounded the PLO's neighborhoods. It took almost two months but the PLO were forced onto ships out of Lebanon.

To prevent loss of life, the IDF showered a targeted neighborhood with leaflets offering a choice; the PLO surrenders within 24 hours and comes out with its arms in the air, or your neighborhood will be destroyed, including, if need be, by carpet bombing. Innocents were told where to gather safely. It was up to the PLO to save the neighborhood by complying with Israel's terms. There was no room for negotiation. It was unconditional surrender or continuing war.

It was a nasty strategy interspersed with utilities cutoffs and the like, but this was a war of survival and Israel won it. And if Israelis with a different agenda hadn't shoved the Oslo war accord down the country's throat a decade later, this latest bloodbath would never have occurred.

In this invasion Israel should have offered as a first condition; bring us Gilad Shalit, or more likely, his remains, to our lines within 24 hours or face our wrath. That is war with a purpose. The only purpose of the latest invasion was to prepare for the next one. And I have a fair idea when it will come.

Few bothered to notice, but in the twenty days of the Gazan operation, it only rained once, and barely. By joining Jordan and the PA with Israel's water grid in the name of peace, the Kinneret and the artesian wells which served Israel well for 60+ years, in drought and plenty, are all but used up. Come summer, the next fight will be over a glass of water.

**

*

Readers really like the other service I provide; supplying alternative articles sent to me. I'm now sending over 200 e-mail pages a week, which can be read or discarded. I think, by reaction, that most are actually read. Providing the service means putting a couple of hours into these letters, organizing them and getting them to you almost daily. I'll commit myself to six months of work in this experimental period. You decide what it's worth.

POB 840157

Paypal: chamishba@gmail.com

Let it be said that I accurately predicted this war in my book 'Bye Bye Gaza'. ~ www.lulu.com/content/575116