So what's Israel's game plan?

Does anyone know what Israel is doing apart from maintaining tension in Israeli society and making life as difficult as possible for Palestinian society? The Jerusalem Post might be expected to know but it doesn't seem to:

Olmert and Peretz have yet to give a media interview or press conference in which they will frankly lay out their objectives. Instead the public is provided with disjointed statements and oblique speeches in which mixed messages, especially from Peretz, are conveyed.

No one is answering the obvious questions: What's the connection between the limited operation in the south of the Gaza Strip and Gilad's kidnapping and if there is none, what exactly is Golani doing there? Has Israel decided to dismantle the Palestinian government and permanently take out the Hamas leadership, or will the legislators be released if a diplomatic solution is reached? And is Israel contemplating an attack on Syrian territory or was the flypast in Latakia simply aimed at reminding us that the IAF is still capable of getting something right without killing civilians?

Ultimately the article isn't simply aimed at criticising the Israeli government's lack of war aims here but to criticise the Gaza disengagement. The JP, together with most (maybe all) of the English language media, ignores Ariel Sharon's assurance that the Gaza "withdrawal" was a "punishment and not a reward" for the Palestinians.  So maybe it didn't punish them enough or maybe it punished them too much, but what did it do for Israel? And what's Israel doing now?