The latest violence in the Middle East
Israel carried out more airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday as the military and political conflict between Israel and Hamas intensified. Stephen M. Walt, the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), discusses the factors behind this latest outbreak of violence between the sides, and what the international community can do about it. HKS: What prompted this latest escalation in violence? WALT: The proximate cause was the kidnapping and murder of three young Israelis on the West Bank, followed by the seizure and murder of a Palestinian teenager. But the background causes are just as important: the increasing radicalization on both sides of the conflict, the collapse of the peace process and the “two-state” paradigm, and the failure of Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S. political leaders. HKS: What is the current state of political relations between Israelis and Palestinians, and how much has changed since the collapse of the...