Tel Aviv Bus Bombing and the Ceasefire

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(By Andrew MacKie-Mason)

Rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel -- which usually land in areas with no nearby military targets -- are one thing. Hamas is fighting with primitive weaponry, and using the one method at their disposal to fight back. But the bus bombing earlier today in Tel Aviv is an entirely different matter. This was an attack deliberately aimed at civilians, not one that happened to affect civilians because of technological inferiority. That attack can rightly be called terrorism (on par with Gilad Sharon's call for Israel to deliberately flatten civilian targets in Gaza) in a way that the rocket attacks cannot. And while Hamas was not directly responsible for the attack, its endorsement of the bombing makes it equally culpable.

Luckily, the bombing did not derail a US- and Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect a few hours ago. The newly elected government of Egypt has pledged to keep Hamas in check, and Israel has promised to stop the targeted assassination of members of Hamas.

Unfortunately, as of yet unidentified groups in Gaza fired twelve rockets into Israel after the ceasefire took effect. Hopefully Hamas (perhaps under pressure from Egypt) will deal with those responsible, and maintain the credibility of their agreements.