I find it interesting that the author uses the same rationale I'd expect to hear from a suicide bomber. This article raises a few questions. What is more important, people or principles? Is it really worth 'setting an example' here? Is Israel's reaction to Hamas really going to change the way the world responds to terrorists and urban guerrilla fighters? I have the sneaking suspicion that all of this justification comes after the fact--that the author's position is a foregone conclusion, and any perspective he has of the conflict is going to be viewed through that lens. I don't think he'd accept the argument that principles should be valued more than innocent lives if it came from the other side. I could be way oversimplifying this, though.And it is that greater cause that decisively outweighs the terrible toll in innocent life.