There is no ?blockade? of Gaza. Gaza is a prison. The prisoners are guilty of the following crimes: Assault; assault with a deadly weapon; kidnapping; extortion; premeditated murder; manslaughter; and more. The prisoners are unrepentant and threaten, at the first opportunity, to murder every Jew in Israel and to take all his possessions. I do not understand why, but they have been assured that if they merely denounce their goal of the extinction of the Jews and confiscation of their homeland, and hold out a hand in friendship, they will be released from prison. I personally would require more than words. But the prisoners have decided that they have more to gain by remaining in jail and parading their self imposed suffering for the world to see. They know of pervasive anti-Semitism and of the absolute support of the Muslim world. Their leaders have martyred young lives to their cause, as if a life on Earth is worthless, so the thought of other Gazans merely suffering causes them not a twinge of remorse. Until their people remove the yoke of Hamas and ask for peace with their neighbor, they will remain forcefully isolated from the civilized society next door.