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Israel Uses Its Arms to Protect Its Civilians; Hamas Uses Its Civilians to Protect Its Weapons
(Independent-UK) Daniel Taub - Israel has made strenuous efforts to focus its attacks on terrorist infrastructure, targeting rockets and missile launchers. At the same time it took extraordinary measures to limit the damage to the civilians above and around these targets. One is hard-pressed to find an example of another conflict in which a military used phone calls, text messages, leaflets, and warning shots to alert residents to impending strikes. Notwithstanding these efforts, there has been a heavy civilian toll on the Palestinian side. Since Israel uses its arms to protect its civilians, whereas Hamas uses its civilians to protect its weapons, there has been a predictable asymmetry of casualties. In 2005 Israel uprooted more than 8,000 Israelis and more than twenty settlements from Gaza, in the hope that Gazans would build a prosperous society, with tourists flocking to its beautiful beaches and agriculture flourishing in the greenhouses Israel left behind. When this terrorist regime is finally disarmed and dismantled, this Gaza may yet become a reality. The writer is Israel's Ambassador to the United Kingdom.