Declaration of war, no. That happened in the 60's. The military wing of Hamas only agreed to a ceasefire (which by all appearances amounted to no suicide bombs against civilian targets in Israel proper). In order to declare war they would have had to be at peace at some point. And militant Hamas isn't an official arm,of the government (so far as I know).

Semantics aside I want to know is how much integration there is between the political branch of Hamas and the military branch. I mean the political branch provides (before being voted into power) education and health care to the people of the west bank and Gaza. This makes Hamas a funny beast. On the one hand you have them provide basic nessities to people who live in poverty and on the other you have a pack of crazies who blow up commuters. My question can/will Hamas-P (for political) seperate itself from Hamas-M.


They Israelis also tried conquering Palestine. That didn't work out either. There isn't much that can be done by Israel. Really the only workable solution is for the PLO to deal with Hamas-M. The Palestinians want to be a state (but some in Hamas don't) then they should start to act like one. They need to bring groups like Hamas-M under control. The elected ruling parties para-military wing renuing war with Israel is not going to help Palestine in the long or short run.