Israel-Hamas Fighting Has Deep Roots
Voice of America
Jews and Arabs have clashed for a century over the fate of Jerusalem. Tensions seem always to be near the surface in a city that is home to major religious sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
It is the Israeli capital. It would be the capital of Palestine should a separate Palestinian state be created, after decades of verbal broadsides between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and literal war in the streets. For the Mideast, it is a story that has been told many times. Failed negotiations and endless recriminations are recorded on the Mideast ledger decade after decade. And now the world is watching as more painful history unfolds in an all-too-familiar scenario, as Hamas militants launch waves of missiles from Gaza toward Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities while the Jewish state responds with deadly airstrikes that have leveled Gaza buildings.A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's rocket launch during a news program at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, May 27, 2024. FILE - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks to reporters in Colombo, July 29, 2023. FILE - A TV screen shows a report of North Korea's spy satellite into orbit with its third launch attempt this year with an image of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 22, 2023.
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.