The continued fighting in the Gaza strip between Israeli Defense Forces and various Palestinian groups has even foreign policy experts scratching their heads.  So to add some insight to the discussion, here’s the inimitable Jon Stewart and his take on the crisis from last night’s Daily Show:

So far the majority of the domestic media coverage of the Gaza Crisis has been hopelessly simplistic, as is often the case when our press covers warfare. The expiration of the truce between Israel and Hamas two weeks ago set off a complex set of events which are even further complicated by shifts in power both throughout the Middle East and in Washington.

For starters, some have speculated that Hamas is losing support lately within the Palestinian areas and initiated the rocket attacks, which started the fighting, in the hopes of baiting Israel into a much larger conflict, which would then in turn help them reassert their hold on power in the midst of a military crisis. If this was indeed Hamas’ aim, then they have undoubtedly succeeded.

Israel has responded to the violence originating on the other side of the Gaza border much more aggressively than it has to any other conflict in the region in years, which is perhaps the biggest mystery at play here. Why is Israel hitting back so hard?  They know better than anyone they have zero chance of rooting out the militants and terrorists in the highly urbanized Gaza Strip.  Some speculation centers around the upcoming elections in the Jewish state where hardliner Likud leader Bejamin Netanyahu is running ahead of the current ruling Kadima party in the polls. Some are guessing that Kadima hopes to hold onto power by carrying out an aggressive military offensive that shows they can be as tough as Likud in the face of attacks on Israel. Others, as Jon Stewart noted above, have speculated Israel is trying to get as much military action in now while still under the auspices of the Bush administration, not knowing what Barack Obama’s policies will be going forward, or that perhaps the offensive is a test for the incoming Obama administration to see how it will respond.

Finally, lurking over the entire region is the specter of Iran. Perhaps the biggest consequence of the Iraq War on international affairs has been the emboldening of Tehran in the Islamic world. With the Sunni regime of Saddam Hussein now long gone, Iraq is now a Shiite controlled country which no longer provides a counterbalance to its neighbor and former bitter rival to the east. Many officials fear that the two countries will even become close in the coming years. This is the biggest power shift in the Middle East in years and it could be contributing to the actions of Iranian backed Hamas, who might want to test the waters of warfare under the new power dynamic.

But regardless of the shady politics at work surrounding the Gaza crisis, the most important thing to realize is that people are dying, and the overwhelming majority of them on both sides of the Gaza fence want to live in peace. You can takepart in learning more about the joint Israeli-Palestinian Radio All For Peace.

LINKS:

The Daily Star: Force will not advance Israeli or Palestinian aims

WSJ: US Transition slows negotiations over Gaza

Daily Telegraph (UK): Hamas blocks birth of a Palestinian state