So Thomas Friedman has a very novel view of the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. While many of us see them as motivated by some kind of murderous psychotic rage, Friedman thinks that the Israelis are trying to teach Hamas a lesson. To show Hamas that life will be better if they start building their own economy and society in the Gaza strip.

Which would be much more convincing were it not for the fact that the Gaza strip has been under blockade for the past two years by Israel and Egypt with the support of the US. Still more convincing were it not for the fact that the announced goal of the blockade has been to "persuade" the people of Gaza to oust the elected Hamas government and put in place a more congenial regime.

God knows what that would be. Fatah could never be described as a government when it held power in the Gaza strip and, besides, the Gaza Strip was mainly closed when Fatah was in control as the West Bank is still mostly closed to trade with anyone but Israel.

For information on closures go to Amnesty International and search Gaza + Closures.

Which leaves the future position of Hamas, Gaza and the current Israeli government in some doubt. The current Israeli government will have a hard time negotiating any real opening of the Gaza Strip. Hamas has already offered a truce and the end to the missiles for the opening of the Gaza borders and Israel and the US have already drawn a line in the sand. If Hamas stays in, no opening. If negotiations start, then the right opposition in Israel can claim retreat etc.

At the same time it will be impossible to build an economy in Gaza under current conditions. Mr. Friedman is a strong believer in the high tech economy and, in time the people of Gaza might earn a great deal of money by hooking in to the internet through satellites and offering E services: tech support, Arabic translation, pay per view broadcasts of boxing matches, whatever.

Unfortunately, as long as Israel maintains it blockade, as it has for at least a decade, Gazans would have no place to spend their income and, given the limited resources of the Gaza Strip they would still be unable to support themselves.

It is hard to imagine what the negotiating position is here. Maybe Friedman knows some thing that I do not.