"Oh but they DID opt for war Christmas, the Israeli's offered to extend the 72-hour ceasefire but Hamas decided to resume "fighting"
As things stand, a cease fire without an intention to make it permanent is meaningless - Israel intends to continue this until she has beaten the Palestinians into submission.
As the Palestinian resistance fighter said                                                                                                 

                                                                  "WE ARE DYING ANYWAY, WE HAVE NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO FIGHT"   

I can understand that.
Little Booboo puts it in a nutshell - "Come out with your hands up - for you, the war is over".
Israel keeps the weapons she has just slaughtered so many innocent people with, Gaza throws away hers.
Israel has a growing arms industry - the fact that she once tried to make Apartheid South Africa nuclear capable has yet to be commented on by the atrocity apologists.
Israel is ruled by extreimst right-wingers and is rapidly becoming a fascist state
Jim Carroll