Well here's an interesting take on things from the Guardian today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/25/gaza-hamas

Now as Hamas is saying:

"Senior Hamas officials are demanding that the conditions for reconciliation should include an end to negotiations with Israel and to the peace process, a unity agreement under a banner of "resistance", and continued Hamas control of Gaza"

Hey Goatfell - "end to negotiations with Israel AND THE PEACE PROCESS" - "unity agreement under a banner of "RESISTANCE" - That is what is demanded by HAMAS, please supply equivalent Israeli statements.

On "reconstruction" they say this - "If international institutions want to do rebuilding projects in Gaza, then that is fine - but they must do it under our supervision."

Now how much "reconstruction" did Hamas supervise previously - damn all as far I can make out - They did however purchase and smuggle in loads of explosives, weapons, ammunition and rockets.

While crying out for international aid, Hamas is said to be - "Sitting on huge cash reserves, Hamas has said that it will begin distributing emergency payments of €4,000 to those who have lost homes" - I wonder what happened, and how they came to be sitting on those vast reserves of cash? Rocket supply chain break down, I mean they're not cheap. Why wasn't all this cash put to good use in a way that it directly benefited the people of Gaza about three years ago??