Here we come to the fifth Palestinian mistake. Israel unilaterally left the Gaza Strip in 2005. Since taking over the Gaza Strip, Hamas has chosen to try gaining points against Fatah by keeping up the barrage of southern Israel in order to show its constituency that it is not a "collaborator of the Zionists", but instead resists Israel. Hamas is totally cynical in its policies. Israel has made it clear through every possible channel that, like any sovereign state, it cannot accept constant rocket barrages on its civilian population, and that the reaction to such barrages would be harsh. But Hamas really doesn't care about civilian casualties of its own constituency. All that matters to them is to show that they resist Israel.

Let me be very clear: I think that Israel needs to let go of the West Bank as soon as possible, and I believe that the population of Gaza must be given the opportunity to live in peace, prosperity, liberty and dignity. But how on earth can the Israeli electorate be convinced to subscribe to this idea, as long as Hamas pushes every button of Israeli fears about its existence? How are we to open the borders, when Hamas cares more about smuggling in materials for rockets than medication?

I have fought for, and will continue to argue, for broadminded Israeli policies. I am impatiently waiting for the moment in which there will be a Palestinian state and in which no Palestinian child will have to see an Israeli soldier in his or her lifetime. But the Palestinian decision-making process is making this very difficult, if not impossible.

In the meantime, politically correct moralists who make lives easy for themselves by letting Palestinians off the hook and turning Israel into the sole culprit make a huge mistake. It is high time that Palestinians begin to face their responsibility for their fate. Sacrificing their sons either as Shahids through suicide bombings or as targets behind which Hamas hides its arsenals of explosives in population centres is the perfect recipe for traumatising or killing another generation of Palestinian children. Carlo Strenger in The Guardian