Of all the things in life that piss me off, stupidity ranks near the top, especially when that stupidity causes the deaths of innocent people. In this case I’m referring to the Palestinians, or at least that percentage of them who refuse to bury their hatred of Israel and continue to bring death and destruction to their own people and to the towns and cities in which they live.

It is, in fact, Hamas, who control Gaza, that is causing the problem, but it is the weakness of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and the rest of the Palestinians, who are allowing it to continue.

The last few days have seen more than 100 Palestinians killed, many of them civilians, by Israeli forces who have responded to the constant daily shelling of rockets into Israel. But instead of trying to quell the violence by cracking down on Hamas militants, or trying to get everyone to sit down and work out some kind of a cease-fire, Abbas suspended peace talks today.

These were the peace talks that President Bush ignited when he met with both the Palestinian and Israel leaders last fall and telling the world that he expected a peace agreement and plan for a Palestinian state to be implemented by the time he left office. In your dreams, George W. I might have mixed thoughts about the man, but I had never thought him to be naïve before hearing that.

And as always, this latest round of violence is being blamed on Israel by not only the Palestinians, but countries around the world. And as always, news reports of the fighting make sure at the top of every story to mention that civilians, including children, were killed. Who the hell’s fault is that? Does anyone with a sound mind expect a country to be shelled with rockets every day, not to respond?

But, say the critics, the response doesn’t have to be that harsh. Why not? Has a weaker response stopped or even delayed Hamas from continuing their fight against Israel? My blood boils when I heard today that the Bush administration has demanded a halt to the fighting. "The violence needs to stop and the talks need to resume," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said.

Who are they to demand anything? It’s not their country and if I hear the argument that we have that right because we give both Israel and the Palestinians millions of dollars, I’ll barf. We give money to Israel because we need a powerful ally in the Mideast and to the Palestinians on a humanitarian basis, despite most of that money never getting to the Palestinian people.

Then this, from the U.N., which came as no surprise: U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon accused Israel of "disproportionate and excessive use of force." I wonder how our government would react if Cuba started shelling Florida with rockets?

Thank God Israel’s leader, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, had the balls to reject the international criticism and vowed to continue the Gaza offensive. "With all due respect, nothing will prevent us from continuing operations to protect our citizens," he told his Cabinet. As all governments should do.

I am always amazed, but not surprised, at the stupidity of the Palestinians. Every time they have a chance for peace with Israel and an opportunity to get what they claim they want — an independent Palestinian state — they screw it up, despite the fact that most of the people live in poverty.

What’s even more amazing is that the answer to peace, or at least an answer to end the violence is so simple. DON’T ATTACK ISRAEL. Not with rockets nor suicide bombers. End that and not one more Palestinian will die. Despite what you might read, or tend to believe based on news reports, Israel will never be the one to instigate the violence. They only respond to it. Harshly — yes. And yes, civilians do get killed, but only because the Hamas militants operate in the midst of them.

So my advice to all Palestinians is this. Get smart, stupid.