I woke up today to this article in the New York Times. I think of my Palestinian driver, and his hidden hope that Hamas could find a way to foster peace in the region. I remember the angry voice of the merchant in the Muslim Quarter, shouting, "I will push your friends into the sea!" I am sad for the city I came to love so fiercely, and the peace I hoped might flourish there.
Instead, today, there is death and fury, threats of retaliation, and angry strides away from any chance for peace and reconciliation. The soft-white stone of Jerusalem's city walls, warm and ancient under my hands, seems so fragile now. It is possible that a third intifada is rising, and peace and the two-state solution are fading ever further into the distance. Let us hope that something may stem the tide, Inshallah, shalom.
Hamas Fires Rockets at Israel After Calling Off Truce
By STEVEN ERLANGER
JERUSALEM, June 10 — The ruling Hamas group fired a barrage of homemade rockets at Israel on Saturday, hours after calling off a truce with Israel in anger over an artillery attack that killed seven civilians at a beachside picnic in the Gaza Strip, according to Associated Press reports.
The end of the truce raised the prospect of a new wave of bloodshed and the resumption of suicide attacks that Hamas had suspended since reaching the cease-fire in February 2005.
The Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for at least 15 of the rockets fired after midnight, as well as a barrage of mortar bombs. The attacks caused no casualties, and the Israeli army said nearly all of them appeared to land inside Gaza.
"The earthquake in the Zionist towns will start again and the aggressors will have no choice but to prepare their coffins or their luggage," the Hamas militants said in a leaflet. "The resistance groups ... will choose the proper place and time for the tough, strong and unique response."
Hamas had officially been abiding by an intermittent 16-month-old cease-fire, but Friday's killing of five members of a family and two women at a beach picnic led to the shift announced in a leaflet and confirmed by the Palestinian government spokesman.
Israeli military officials expressed regret for any "strike on innocents," saying that it was accidental and that the shells were aimed at a target 400 yards away, which had been the launching ground for dozens of crude rockets fired by Palestinians at southern Israeli towns. The officials ordered a halt to shelling in the area and offered help to some 30 other Palestinians who had been wounded.
The Palestinian reaction was one of fury, with the deaths putting the ruling Hamas faction in an awkward political position, apparently unable either to protect ordinary Palestinians or pay them, given the halt in financing to the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority by Israel and the West.
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