The most famous words ever spoken in Gaza were the last words of Samson (Judges, 16, 30): “Let me die with the Philistines!” According to the Biblical story, Samson took hold of the central pillars of the Philistine temple and brought down the whole building upon the Lords of the Philistines, the people of Gaza and himself. The teller of the story sums it all up: “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.”

A story of suffering, destruction and death. It may be about to repeat itself now, only with the roles reversed: The temple may be brought down by the Palestinians (who took their name from the Philistines), and among the dead will be the Lords of Israel. Will Gaza turn into a Palestinian Massada (the place where, a thousand years later, Jewish defenders chose mass suicide rather then fall into the hands of the Romans)?

The people of Gaza are worried.

For months now, the political and military leaders of Israel have been discussing the “big operation”: A massive invasion of the Gaza Strip in order to put an end to the launching of rockets into Israel.

The army chiefs, who are usually raring to go into battle, are not eager this time. But if tomorrow a Qassam rocket falls on a house in Sderot and kills a whole family, there will be such an outcry in Israel that the government may feel compelled to give the order, even against its better judgment.

No doubt, the Israeli Army will overcome the resistance. But what then?

If the army leaves the strip quickly, the situation will revert to what it was before and the launching of the Qassam rockets will be resumed. That would mean that the whole operation will have been in vain. If the army remains there it will be compelled to take on the full responsibility of an occupation regime: Feeding the population, running the social services, establishing security. All this in a situation of a vigorous and ongoing guerrilla war.

For an occupier, Gaza has always been problematic. The Israeli Army has left it three times already, and each time the joy was great. It is no accident that both intifadas started in Gaza. The Hamas movement itself, which is today celebrating its 20th anniversary, was born in Gaza. No wonder that our army chiefs shrink back from re-conquering the Gaza Strip. The Problem is that nobody knows how to undo the Gordian knot left behind by Ariel Sharon, that master-weaver of such knots.

As will be remembered, Sharon dismantled the settlements and evacuated the Strip without a dialogue with the Palestinians and without turning the territory over to the Palestinian Authority. The next chapter was inevitable: Hamas took military control over the Strip. From the Strip, Qassam rockets and mortar shells were launched at the neighboring Israeli towns and villages, without the Israeli Army being able to stop them.

Thus a vicious circle was set up: The Israelis choke the people in the Strip, Gazan fighters bombard the Israeli town Sderot, the Israeli Army reacts by killing Palestinian fighters and civilians, the people from Gaza launch mortars at the kibbutzim, the army carries out incursions and kills Palestinian fighters daily and nightly, Hamas brings in more effective anti-tank weapons — and no end in sight.

This is the way most Israelis see things: We left Gaza. But the Palestinians just keep shooting at us from inside the strip and turn life in Sderot into hell. We have no alternative but to turn their lives, too, into hell, in order to get them to stop.

According to Dr. Eyad Sarraj — a well-known psychiatrist, peace and human rights activist, Israel blocks all imports into the Strip, except for a short list of about half a dozen basic articles. 900 trucks used to be employed daily for the imports and exports of the Gaza Strip, now their number is reduced to 15.

Is There another way out besides a massive invasion?

Of course there is. An immediate cease-fire can be achieved. According to all the indications, Hamas, too, is ready for it, provided that it is general: both sides must stop all military actions, including “targeted liquidations” and the launching of Qassams and mortar shells. The crossings must be opened for free movement of goods in both directions. The passage between the Strip and the West Bank must be opened, as well as the border between the Strip and Egypt.

Such a calming of the situation may encourage the two competing Palestinian governments — Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza — to start a new dialogue, under the auspices of Egypt or Saudi Arabia, in order to heal the rift and set up a unified Palestinian national leadership that will have the authority to sign peace agreements.