Just hours after the cease-fire went into force, Israel’s political leadership came to recognize something important – that it can leverage the military achievements it made in Operation Breaking Dawn to make advances on the civilian and diplomatic fronts. The decision of the Hamas leadership to act as the “responsible adult” in the latest round of fighting and avoid escalation may be signaling a willingness to reach an understanding on a long-term period of quiet with Israel, to work to improve the welfare of Gazans, to pave the way for an international effort to rehabilitate the enclave and perhaps even to reaching an agreement on returning Israeli hostages and soldiers missing in action.