Palestinian protesters hurl stones during clashes with Israeli forces in the Shuafat Palestinian neighbourhood, neighbouring the Israeli settlement of Ramat Shlomo, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on May 14, 2021. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)
The latest conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip has entered the second week of fighting, following a similar pattern of violence that has repeated itself for years. Understanding the root of the discord can be difficult with so many vested interests and a long, complicated history.
Here & Now s Peter O Dowd speaks with
Khaled Elgindy, director of the Program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian Affairs at the Middle East Institute, for an explainer on what s driving the conflict.
POLITICO
As the conflict claims more lives, the words U.S. officials use are telling.
A Palestinian protester uses a sling shot to hurls back a tear gas canister during clashes with Israeli troops south of the West Bank city of Nablus on May 17. | Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo
Link Copied
The Biden administration would like Israelis and Palestinians to “calm” down. Ideally, a “sustainable calm” that comes because the two sides “deescalate tensions” and bring a “halt to the violence.”
In speeches, interviews, tweets and call readouts, President Joe Biden and his aides have used some version of the above terms more than 40 times during the past week.
Expert Views on Escalating Violence in the Middle East
How do Americans view the long-standing conflict in the Middle East? What led to the latest escalations across the Holy Land this week? And what challenges do these rising tensions pose to U.S. leadership?
This week, we are joined by:
Lydia Saad, Gallup Director of U.S. Social Research
Khaled Elgindy, Director of Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute
Dr. Natan Sachs, Director of the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings
Access all Gallup Podcast content through iTunes, Google Play, Tune In, and Stitcher.
Font Size
Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot can’t even express worry for her friends and family in Israel as it’s being attacked by terror group Hamas without receiving backlash from Palestinian sympathizers.
Gadot, the Israel-born actress who has become a huge star in the United States, took to Twitter on May 12 to talk about her fears for her home country as it’s currently being bombarded by rockets from the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Because radical leftists on Twitter hate Israel about as much as they hate America, they called her out for showing even the slightest bit of sympathy for her and her family’s home.
Follow
May. 11, 2021
WASHINGTON – As tensions in Jerusalem and Gaza boil over, there is growing dissatisfaction among former U.S. officials and policy experts regarding the Biden administration’s approach toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Sources describe the administration’s apparent disengagement from the conflict as intentionally neglectful, with the implication being that the administration has determined it is politically unwise to get actively involved in Israeli-Palestinian matters or dragged into an intractable conflict.
This approach is disconnected from the reality of America’s outsized role with both the Israelis and the Palestinians, they say, adding that the United States will be forced to get involved if the violence gets worse. They are imploring the U.S. government to take a more vested interest now in preventing things from spiraling further out of control.