I know. Despite the security assurances swirling around Israel's decision to call off Cast Lead. I mean, sure the international community made identical assurances in the context of Israel's original withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. And sure those first assurances were provided with an extra exclamation point, where Palestinian shelling was understood to justify massive Israeli retaliation. And certainly the shameless historical revisionism that greeted Israel's defensive war proved all that to be empty.

But gosh darn it this time I really believed. Bummer:

Smuggling into the Gaza Strip from Egypt beneath the Philadelphi Corridor has returned to the busy levels that prevailed before Operation Cast Lead last winter, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Estimates of how many tunnels are now functioning range from several hundred to 1,000, although the most authoritative figures indicate that between 350 and 500 are currently operating. The IDF claimed to have destroyed about 300 tunnels during Cast Lead. Israel has long asserted that the Egyptians could put an end to the entire smuggling industry within 24 hours if they wanted to, using military obstructions along the length of the Philadelphi Corridor.

Not to worry. It's not like all those weapons are staying in Gaza. There are Israeli civilians to bomb after all:

A Qassam rocket was launched from the northern Gaza Strip and has apparently fallen in an open area in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no reports of injury or damage. A Color Red siren was sounded before the rocket landed.

Ditto for February and March and April and May and June and July and August and September and October. Mortars and small weapons fire are also back in play, and of course the kidnapping attempts started again immediately.

None of which is surprising since Gaza residents - for all the coverage they get about wanting to live normal lives - have never stopped supporting war crimes against Israelis. Something to think about the next time the State Department ritualistically intones that Gazans are "being held hostage" by unpopular Hamas forces.

Israel will object to the international community. That objection will be ignored. Then the IAF will have to launch one of their periodic anti-tunnel bombing raids. That's how it's been since the end of Cast Lead, as far back as March: rocket fire that eventually hit a synagogue, followed by a complaint to the UN, followed by nothing, followed by the inevitable. And when it happens again I have no doubt that the international community will react with exactly the self-reflection and fairness that we've all come to expect.

References and related after the jump...