Weren't those soldiers valid targets? One could call this fair play. The palestinians went through a lot of trouble, digging a 400 meter long tunnel, to get a chance to shoot Israeli soldiers and win.
yes they were definitely fair targets, i can't wrong them on that. Soldiers are legitimate targets for attacks, i wouldnt call this attack a terror attack at all.
But Hamas' involvement in implementing the attack is going to open up a can of worms like never before. That being that hamas is the chosen leader of the Palestinians, therefore i see the attack not as terror, but an attack on one state by another "state". it is more an act of war than terror.
As for the israel being there to stay, try telling that to hamas.
The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter, given in full below. Following are highlights.
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."
the whole thing can be found here...
https://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htmi have never read it, but will read in full now myself.
but it is clear tht negotiations are seen as negative by palestinians towards their national aspirations.
As for the life of the kidnapped soldier, i am not optimistic, but hopful, that is after seing the treatment of hostages by similar groups in iraq recently and the killing of three israeli soldiers kidnapped by hizbolah in 2000.
Please also remember that the protocols of zion are false and ridiculous and plane insane, more on that here
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0685175073/002-1556619-6093647?v=glance&n=283155it seems as though the hamas charter is based on this and other similar material.
also it is not fair to say israel started the second intifada, i was living in israel when it broke out, i can tell you that israelis thought peace was finally going to be realised, it was the height of diplomacy between the two sides.
A lot of tension was developing from the palestian side leading up to the intifada, some were not happy with the negotiated agreement, which by the way was not final, but a starting point, a very good one.
Ariel sharon, one hard headed israeli decided to pay a visit to the temple mount on which the dome of the rock is built, he took with him gaurds of course.
now that is not a train smash, it did not call for or necessitate the actions that were to lead to the 2nd intifada. The arab side was tense to begin with. I was at the arab market in east jerusalem the day before that all happened, and i can't tell you how tense it was there that day. there was a feeling that somethng huge was about to happen, i find out what the next day, and then came bus bombs and full scale madness from both sides.