That's it...paint the target a little brighter on your chest...

RAFAH, Gaza Strip: It was Friday, the Muslim day of rest, but the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt was a hive of activity. Men scraped sandy soil out of holes that had served as tunnels for smuggling, and were one of the main targets of Israel's assault.

Now, less than a week after it ended, Gazans were back, plunging deep underground with lamps to carry rocky loads of soil out on pulleys.

"Everybody's busy rebuilding now," said a manager of one digging team. "In a month, it will be back to normal."

The defiant pose seemed surprisingly brazen in light of recent events: Israel said smuggling tunnels were a prime concern, after Hamas rockets, in attacking the Gaza Strip, and it hit dozens of them in airstrikes during the war. But the tunnels are the principle livelihood for many people here, and as soon as the bombing stopped, they were right back in them with their shovels.

Stop the carnage!!! The Israelis are barbarians!!! The proportional firepower used by the Israelis was overkill!!!

Are the Palestinians really this stupid??? How vacuous and obtuse do you have to be to flaunt the continuation of one of the primary motives on the Israeli action? And, I'd like to point out that those interviewed in the IHT article do not identify themselves (for the most part) as Hamas. They are Gazans...they are your everyday, run of the mill...Palestinians.

The tunnels do not address the more important question of reconstruction. Though the focus internationally has been on who will receive the money - the West does not want Hamas to get any - here in Rafah, a far more urgent question is whether the Israelis will let materials through official crossings. Tunnels, managers said, will not work.

"Reconstruction now depends on the Israeli's good will," said Jabbar Qeshta, deputy mayor of Rafah, and a member of Hamas.

The municipality has three bulldozers and about 30 cement mixers, Qeshta said, but the most basic ingredient was missing.

"Tell them I want cement," he said.

To summarize...Hamas (with the support of most of the Palestinian constituency in Gaza) lobs rockets continuously on Israeli border towns. Israel responds by taking out the origination of the mortars (continuously hid in residential as well as UN operated buildings), attempts to destroy the tunnels by which the armaments are being smuggled into Gaza, and make a concerted effort to neutralize those responsible for the decision making.

The entire cadre of media morons attempts to show Israel in an unfavorable light, and apply Sainthood to the Palestinians. The United Nations does the same (as expected). A ceasefire is finally realized (although way too early in my opinion).

And NOW...regular everyday Palestinians flaunt that they are continuing on by rebuilding the tunnels such that this same scenario can take place again in the near future.

"Reconstruction now depends on the Israeli's good will."

Yeah...you know what...screw their future...by their own idiotic murderous hands.