I've thought that having Egypt take over would be the best solution for many years.  I knew that the the blockade would force Hamas to do something, but I never guessed that what they would do is try to force Egypt to take over.  This really is a much better response than anything I would have expected.

The Egyptian government is in a very delicate situation.  They've shown over and over that they don't care about the Palestinians or want anything to do with them, but they are already having to suppress Islamic parties to stay in control.  They're very afraid of doing anything to the Palestinians which would result in a backlash against them in Egyptian public opinion.

Israel wants Egypt to take over as well, so that they don't have to spend money on the Palestinians it looks like, but still no movement out of Egypt.  Probably little will change, but the wall getting knocked down is the most hopeful sign I've seen in quite some time.

I think Egypt is smart to stay out of it and has a sound historical backing for their decision to do so. Getting involved would simply cause overt conflict between them and Israel and Egypt would gain no benefit from that at this time.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

Interesting link, thanks.  

Of course, Gaza could be part of a self-governing state, as agreed in the Oslo Accord, rather than having to be controlled or annexed either by Egypt or by Israel, but they messed that up by choosing Hamas as their government, since it is a terrorist organization which refused to recognize Israel (the country from which they expect to receive a continual flow of material goods) and which continues to launch rocket attacks against Israel.  

But then, Israel has lots of enemies, not just Hamas, and by cleverly putting Israel in the position of having to cause even more suffering for the people of Gaza, Hamas wins a public-relations victory which may eventually lead to some overwhelming attack on Israel (probably originating in Iran, which has already called for the destruction of Israel) which might give Hamas the victory over Israel that it has been fighting for.  But meanwhile, there is an enormous amount of suffering that results.  It is a very cruel strategy, and it is cruel both to Palestinians and to Israelis.  This is why a terrorist government is not a good idea.

Does that really mean Hamas' position has improved, or does it mean that Palestinians have gotten so used to getting screwed that they no longer think they can do anything to make their situation any better and so put up with anything, no matter how unprofitable or dangerous? Has Hamas become its own worst enemy?

It certainly does give some credence to the Israeli position that the Palestinians always bargain in bad faith, and that no realistic agreement can be reached with them that they can be trusted to implement. Of course, it's quite possible that Israel's own actions pushed to the Palestinians to this point, but I really do think that right now the Palestinian people are so destitute, feel so betrayed, and are so angry at their situation that they might well put up with a whole lot of mismanagement on the part of Hamas, as long as it leads to Israelis being injured and killed. If Israel gets to the point where the borders are so locked down that Hamas can't really do any damage anymore, though, and they just come across as looking as both ineffective leaders and ineffective terrorists, then I think we might see some desire for change.

Ce n'est pas une pipe. C'est une signature.

So far, reports suggest that Palestinians in Gaza feel no anger toward Hamas, only toward Israel. But if many of them vote with their feet by going to Egypt and not coming back, maybe that assessment will end up looking like lie and brave face. Hamas has provided ineffective leadership, but so long as they remain effective terrorists, they seem to have following.

Maybe if West Bank fares better than Gaza does (if Palestinians there actually get peace agreement that makes sense), Fatah will look like true Palestinian government instead of equally ineffective farce.