As I and others have noted, Egypt keeps Hamas alive. Whether the government is complicit or simply lazy, the effect is the same: large quantities of arms make their way from Egypt in to Gaza. And were Hamas to start blowing up resorts across Sinai, Egypt would very likely start to take a more active approach to the smuggling in to Gaza. While striking Israelis in Egypt might be an attractive option, pragmatism would presumably take priority.

In the absence of a Hamas attack in Egypt, thus far it looks like pragmatism is holding. But if anyone is likely to understand how vital the Rafah tunnels are to Hamas' continued existance, it would be a Gaza-based handler. Handlers are typically a cut above the rest in the first place. Yet Saleh was instructed to select Israeli targets in Sinai.

It is probably worth looking at Hamas as it sees itself. This is from a recent interview with Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar:

TML: What is 'this land' that you are talking about? Are you talking about the whole of Israel?

Zahar: First of all this Palestinian land, and all the Arabic nation, is all part of the same area. In the past, there was no independent Palestinian state; there was no independent Jordanian state; and so on. There were regions called Iraq or Egypt, but they were all part of one country. That is why it is not permitted to [agree to] establish separate countries, which was the case after the Sykes-Picot Agreement [1916]. Our main goal is to establish a great Islamic state, be it pan-Arabic or pan-Islamic. Therefore, it is not allowed to establish an Arabic state over the land of Palestine alone. Also, remember this land is still occupied. To sum up, the Islamic and traditional views reject the notion of establishing an independent Palestinian state. The European example is clear. Europe's history is filled with wars and blood. Its races are varied, its languages are varied, and nevertheless it established the European Union. The Islamists' view, which Hamas adheres to, is that a great Muslim state must be established, with Palestine being a part of it. Within this state, Israel has no place – its history is different, its language is different, its religion is different, its culture is different, and its security and political affiliations are different. This is the view of Hamas movement.

For Islamic terrorists, pragmatism isn't always the first consideration. But even if it were, carrying out attacks on behalf of al-Qaeda would bring funding from the group's apparently limitless sources. Jihad, Inc.

I can think of three other attacks outside Israel Hamas was almost certainly involved in:

• The planned suicide bombing of the New York subway in 1997. The NYPD thwarted the attack, arresting the two terrorists (who were shot during the raid) and recovering the bomb.

• The wave of attacks Jamal al-Aql was to have carried out in Canada and the United States (he was arrested by the Israelis in 2004).

• The probable association between Gaza-resident Ayad Said Salah, who recruited several members of the Taba cell, and Hamas.

As this Time article notes, Hamas have expanded their scope:

Jordanian security officials tell Time that two Hamas agents recently traveled to Afghanistan to recruit the remnants of al-Qaeda's network to join its operations in the Arab world. The Jordanians say this spells danger for many countries in the Middle East, especially since a growing number of Hamas leaders now argue that the best way to strike Israel is to attack U.S. targets in Arab countries.

This Daniel Pipes article has a run-down of the Hamas presence in the U.S.. Of particular interest:

In August 2004, a longtime Hamas money-man, Ismail Selim Elbarasse, was arrested for videotaping the details of Maryland's Bay Bridge. This "set off alarms among U.S. counterterrorism investigators," the Baltimore Sun reported. They treated the incident as a Hamas reconnaissance of the bridge and "as a potential link between Hamas and Al Qaeda." In court papers, authorities alleged that the images Elbarasse's shot of the bridge included close-ups of features "integral to the structural integrity of the bridge."

Yasser Saleh's mission to Egypt must be viewed in the context of Hamas' gradual evolution in to a global terrorist organisation. A few months ago, Dan Darling and I had a back and forth about who was responsible for the Taba bombings. I agree now that al-Qaeda was very probably the perpetrator, but I want to go back to a very valid point Dan made at the time:

Egypt is not the US or Canada, it is the definitive life-blood of the illegal arms trade that Hamas needs to remain a viable force in the Gaza Strip.

Absolutely true. If there is one country Hamas would avoid hitting, it would be Egypt - for reasons of survival. But switch that around: if Hamas is scouting targets in the country that keeps them alive, where else are they willing to attack?