Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/shaky-cease-fire-political-dynamics-led-to-burst-of-israeli-hamas-violence Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Gulf leaders are set to meet Wednesday in Cairo for an Arab League Summit amid increased international pressure on Israel to stop air strikes in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Two analysts probe both sides of the conflict. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JEFFREY BROWN: As we've seen, the Gaza war has been accompanied by statements and declarations from Hamas, Israel, and other governments in the region.For analysis of all this, we turn once again to Hisham Melhem, Washington bureau chief of Al Arabiya, a Middle East satellite news channel. He's also a senior correspondent for An-Nahar, a Lebanese newspaper.And David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Well, I want to ask you both, why now? Start with you, Hisham Melhem. What are the internal dynamics driving this? Start with the Hamas side. HISHAM MELHEM, Washington Bureau Chief, Al Arabiya: This was like a Greek tragedy. Everybody knew that, by the end of the cease-fire expiration date, that they will be — that we are sliding towards the abyss.One can speculate only on why Hamas did that. They said that they are not going to renew the informal cease-fire because I think they wanted to improve the terms of any kind of a renewed cease-fire. They are feeling the effects of the tight Israeli siege that has been imposed on Gaza.You have deteriorating humanitarian conditions there. Unemployment is more than 42 percent. Almost two-thirds of the Palestinians there are living dependent on aid from relief agency. So there is that domestic pressure on Hamas. Hamas wants to prove that it is in control, that it can force the Israelis to change the terms of the — of the siege.And also the Israelis are preparing for elections, so they felt that they have to enhance their position vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority, led by President Abbas in the West Bank. So the economic pressure, the humanitarian pressure… JEFFREY BROWN: And the politics? HISHAM MELHEM: … and the politics of it compelled them to challenge the Israelis. And they felt — maybe they miscalculated — that the Israelis cannot embark on a serious invasion of — reinvasion of Gaza, they may embark on a series of aerial attacks and that they could absorb that.And I think they are correct in the sense that there is no military solution to this. And in the end, they probably end up being enhanced, if they win, and winning here in this context is survival of the leadership.