Political science and history professors discuss Israel with The Detroit Jewish News

The Detroit Jewish News asked experts on Israel, foreign policy, religion and/or other relevant fields to answer important questions on everyone's mind in the midst of the recent news from the Middle East.

Frederic Pearson is a professor of political science and director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Wayne State University. "Gaza is a human and political tragedy, made worse by the latest U.S. move in Jerusalem and by harsh Israeli reprisal tactics. Iranian and radical influence there is likely to strengthen rather than weaken, especially with the U.S. move to violate the nuclear agreement.

It amounts to a permanent prison camp for 1.8 million mainly young Palestinians. Israel missed a golden opportunity for peace when it evacuated Gaza under Sharon without a forthcoming offer of positive help for reconstruction." Professor Howard Lupovitch is a member of the history department and director of the Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies at Wayne State University.

"Recent events at the Gaza border fence are tragic but unfortunately necessary. Given recent Hamas attacks and incursions into Israel across Israel's southern border, and the periodic discovery of attack tunnels from Gaza by the Israeli military, the integrity of the border is imperative for Israeli security. In addition, while some of the protestors are genuinely using peaceful means to pursue peaceful motives, some, at least, may well be acting as agents – winking or otherwise – of Hamas.

Thus the Israeli military and, by extension, Israeli society, is once again caught between havlaga (restraint, especially toward unarmed civilian protestors) and the very real threat posed by Hamas."