Shimon Peres has finally gained some clarity regarding Israel’s “peace” process with the Palestinian Arabs.

“Israel is proposing to the Palestinians peace according to the road map. I don’t believe Hamas will change and accept Israel’s conditions for talks.” The reason?

“Hamas is an extremist religious movement. Under the demands it is being asked, it should become a secular political party, and I doubt it will implement the demands.”

Here that world? You are demanding Hamas transform from from an extremist religious movement into a secular political party - that it renounce its very core beliefs and adopt yours instead. Just not gonna happen.

Peres’ remarks also indicate recognition that Hamas’ belligerent policies are rooted in its Islamic faith.

Shame Peres didn’t display this level of clarity when trying to transform Yasser Arafat from a dedicated and blood-soaked killer into a diplomat and peace partner.

PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas is incensed over an Israeli missile strike on an empty building in his presidential compound in Gaza.

To hear him speak, Israel simply launched the attack for fun, because it just loves to see the “Palestinians” squirm.

“The continuous random bombarding in Gaza is not justified. It wants nothing but to disrupt the daily life of the Palestinian people.”

So why did Israel launch the strike?

Well, Israel would argue that all those Kassam and Katyusha rockets being fired from Gaza on a daily basis at Israeli civilians in the Negev are the reason.

To turn Abbas’ accusation on its head - it seems the “Palestinians” want nothing but to disrupt the daily life of all Israelis within their reach.

And the fact Abbas and his regime are doing absolutely nothing to prevent such attacks make them fully complicit.

So, far from a “random bombardment” meant to “disrupt the daily life” of Gaza’s residents, a little cause and effect analysis shows that Tuesday’s air strike was a determined action meant to send a message to Abbas over his ongoing failure to act in accordance with signed agreements.

Andrew Jaffee comments at IsraPundit on a Jerusalem Post story regarding Europe’s suggestion that Jerusalem “lease the settlement blocs from the Palestinian Authority rather than annex them outright.”

According to the article:

…the EU’��s hope would be that Israel would ‘��be generous’ and give the PA ‘��more than the minimum.’

��An incredulous Jaffee responds:

Israel makes up 1/6 of one percent of the territory of the Middle East, and the Jewish state should “be generous” and give the PA “��more than the minimum?”�� There’��s an old expression: ‘��One half of nothing is still nothing.’�� Israel has already been generous, giving up Gaza and now planning to give up the West Bank. We’re back to square one, where the Arabs, and their EU supporters, seem bent on demanding that all of little Israel be given up.

I would add that even before the current “peace” process, “disengagement” and planned “convergence,” the Jews were more than generous with this land.

You see, the Balfour Declaration promised to the Jews not only all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea to Israel, but also all of what is today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan - much of which was part of biblical Israel.

In 1920, the Balfour Declaration for all intents and purposes became international law at the League of Nations’ meeting in San Remo.

But when it came time to seek independence, the Jews did not bring up these laws, and settled for whatever scrap of land the UN would agree to recognize Israel on. And that scrap was far smaller than the lands originally promised.

The Jews have already shown more generosity than any other people would even consider in relinquishing their biblical, historic, and legal claims to OVER half the land they are entitled to.

And this is why Ehud Olmert’s “convergence” plan is so dangerous, and should throw up warning signs for all Israelis. If the past century has taught Israel anything, it should be that no amount of land will ever assuage its enemies.

Hamas appears to be the only party seeing things clearly when it says: Peace means the elimination of Israel.

Since Hamas’ overwhelming electoral victory in January, the international media has gone to great lengths to assuage global shock and dismay over this turn of events by insisting the Palestinian Arabs voted for the blood-soaked terrorists for purely socio-economic reasons.

The latest example of this self-delusion comes from the pen of chief CNN Palestinian-apologist Christiane Amanpour, who wrote in a piece titled “From terrorism to trash collection”:

“During this year’s election, Palestinians fed up with the rampant corruption and lawlessness of the late Yasser Arafat’s government turned to the only alternative, Hamas.”

This theory, however, was easily discredited by analyst Robert Satloff (via HonestReporting.com:

“Other parties on the ballot offered alternatives to Fatah, including the good-government Third Way, but Hamas won 74 seats and the squeaky-clean liberals just 2. Indeed, it is an uncomfortable truth that an absolute majority of Palestinians voted for parties publicly committed to the destruction of Israel… To suggest that Palestinians were oblivious to the political meaning of their votes is, as President Bush has argued in a different context, the soft bigotry of low expectations.

Even if the assertions of Amanpour and her colleagues did contain a hint of truth, it must be remembered that there are many other organizations besides Hamas providing charitable social services to the Palestinian Arabs - including the United States government.

So why is Washington so hated and Hamas is popular enough to become the sole ruling part of the “Palestinian” legislature?

The difference between Hamas and all these other groups, organizations and governments is one thing - Jewish body count.

Hamas is widely popular - far more so than any other humanitarian group - precisely because it has combined its social efforts with a successful campaign of mass murder against Israel’s Jews.

Without the blood is has spilled, Hamas could not stand out as it does today and could not have performed such a massive electoral coup.

How many times must Hamas make comments like this:

“There is no place for Israel on this land.”

before the West will stop threatening to cut off and isolate the Palestinian Authority and actually do it?

My guess? They never will, because, as I wrote earlier, Hamas is learning the fine art of balancing their true aims with the kind of sweet-talk the world likes to hear.