FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — University of Arkansas-Fort Smith professor Mohamed Zainuba says the attack on Israel by Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, was inevitable.
On Saturday morning Hamas conducted a surprise attack as hundreds of rockets were fired toward Southern and Central Israel. A few hours later, Israeli jet fighters launched retaliatory strikes on Gaza. More than 1,000 Israeli and Palestinian people are dead.
“This is not going to go away. The current situation is just a prelude to what is going to happen in the future,” said Zainuba.
The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians has been brewing for over 70 years. Now the terrorist group Hamas has launched an attack on the state of Israel.
“These two factions can never sit down and have a conversation,” said Zainuba. “No country in the world including the United States can bring these two entities which is the state of Israel, Palestinian or Gaza people. They have failed since 1948.”
According to the Global Conflict Tracker, when the state of Israel was created, it sparked a war between the new Jewish state and Palestinians already living in the area. The war resulted in an Israeli victory but displaced more than 700,000 Palestinians.
The territory was divided into the three parts: Israel, the West bank and the Gaza Strip. Both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are under Palestinian control.
The Gaza strip is 140 square miles with a population of 2 million.
“You are talking about a very powerful country who is having a conflict with not even a country. It’s having a conflict with 3 million people who are sandwiched between them and Egypt,” said Zainuba.
Just one day after Hamas attacked and stormed southern Israeli cities across the border of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli cabinet formally declared war against Hamas.
“Nobody is saying Israel is 100% wrong,” said Zainuba. “But the Gaza people is an accumulation of oppression for the last 70 years. They took their land, they evicted them from their lands by force. Then they built Israeli towns and then they built the wall.”
Zainuba says Israel is in complete control of the West Bank and is trapping the people who live in the Gaza Strip. He says this attack was inevitable and suspects the war will not end soon.
