It looks like despite continued mortar fire, Israel is opening up its border with Gaza, which should at least allow some humanitarian aid to cross into the area.  It also comes during a time when Hamas, despite the continued shelling of Israel, blames the Israeli government for delays in talks over the release of Gilad Shalit.

The BBC reports:

GAZA, July 8 (UPI) — Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak Tuesday reopened border crossings between Israel and Gaza after earlier mortar fire prompted their closings.The Jerusalem Post, without naming sources, reported Barak made the decision to allow the movement of goods and humanitarian aid into Gaza at the urging of Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who reportedly told Barak that reopening the crossings would help in negotiations with Palestinian militants Hamas, who control Gaza.

Of course, this may or may not end the hue and cry over “collective punishment.”  Perhaps Egypt should also do something about opening its borders with Gaza….

Israel and Hamas are meeting to secure the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. A Hamas delegation was set to arrive in Cairo Tuesday to discuss Shalit as well as the option of reopening another crossing, the Post said.

“There are several small offshoots (of the major terror groups) in Gaza trying to disrupt the truce, but we have one address, and that is Hamas,” an unnamed Israeli security official told the newspaper. “We know Hamas has dispatched forces to track down these renegade cells, but (the group) is not (doing) enough.”

The question now is whether or not Gilad Shalit is even alive, or if Israel will move to trade more living terrorists for the body of a brave Israeil soldier.

The irony that I see in all of this is that Hamas is moving closer and closer toward actually being a government.  That they should have to “track down these renegade cells” is awfully reminiscent of the PLO as it moved away from overt terrorism and into the political sphere.  Of course, the reaction to this shift was the rise of Hamas.  Now that Hamas, too, may be moving toward pseudo-legitimacy, the cynic in me is simply waiting for the next major terror organization to rise up and fill those empty shoes.

This may be the cyclical sort of problem Israel will face when negotiating peace with terror groups.  By the time they are actually willing to negotiate peace, they’re no longer the ones who are making war.  A new group has risen, and a new negotiation period has to resume.  Imagine the IRA had made peace with the UK, and a new Irish terror group had taken its place…

Kain's major subjects of focus at NeoConstant are international strategy; support of Israel; the failure of the international community to stop genocide; the spread of American power and democracy; historical analysis; and current events both domestically and abroad. He writes here, Newsvine and his blog, IndiePundit.