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LISA MULLINS: The conflict between Israel and Hamas didn't start with this 12-day old war. The trouble between the Israelis and the Palestinians goes back to 1948 and even before that. But this latest battle between Israel and Hamas is a distinct chapter and one with competing storylines. The World's Jeb Sharp takes us through some recent history.

JEB SHARP: One useful place to start for understanding the current crisis is the decision by Israel to withdraw its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Israel's logic at the time was to try to create a defensible border, according to Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

MATTHEW LEVITT: The leader at the time was Prime Minister Sharon. His idea was to create a separation between the Palestinians and the Israelis. And if there couldn't be one that was agreed upon, if there wasn't a Palestinian partner as the Israelis saw it, then at least they would withdraw unilaterally and have a firm, defensible border. The idea at the time was that if Hamas did anything to attack Israel from Gaza, then Israel would have all of the moral authority to attack back in defense of its border.

SHARP: Levitt says in retrospect, it probably was not a great idea to withdraw unilaterally because it allowed Hamas to capitalize on the relative power vacuum inside Gaza. He says the next key moment came in January 2006 when the Palestinians held Democratic elections and Hamas won.

LEVITT: Unfortunately the United States pushed those elections. Israeli officials came here and warned of the consequences, and the US officials said, “Don't worry. Hamas won't win.” Well, they did. And something that Secretary Rice at the time apparently said in the meeting the day after, “How is it that we didn't know?”

SHARP: It was a defining moment. Even though it was now in government, Hamas refused to temper its aggression toward Israel, and Israel backed by the United States, moved to isolate Hamas. Some say that was an ideological stance that was counterproductive. Rashid Khalidi is a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University.

RASHID KHALIDI: Hamas indicated a willingness to participate in negotiations as part of a coalition government, and it was not the Palestinians who caused this to break down, it was the United States in particular, but also Israel which simply refused to deal with any government, even a government prepared to negotiate with them if it included Hamas. This was an ideological decision. We won't talk to them even if they will talk to us. We won't talk to them about terms for settlement even if they're willing to talk about it.

SHARP: Israel proceeded to impose a blockade on Gaza to pressure Hamas, but again, critics like Khalidi says that policy amounts to collective punishment.

HALADI: I can't stress this enough. This is a population whose – whose – which is the responsibility of the occupying power, whose welfare is the responsibility of Israel. And by closing off access to the Strip, preventing people from leaving and most importantly preventing goods from going in or exports from going out, they are starving this population. Not literally starving it, but causing a breakdown of the society such that an overwhelming majority of this population is unemployed. It is a population most of which is children.

SHARP: But Hamas continued to provoke Israel, including kidnapping Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit later in 2006. Hamas said its rival, the Fatah party, tried to form a national unity government, but it didn't last long. Violence broke out between the Palestinian factions. In June 2007, Hamas actually took control of Gaza by force. Israel and Hamas have effectively been at war ever since. Hamas has bombarded Israel with rockets, and Israel has kept Gaza under siege. A cease-fire negotiated by Egypt managed to bring a degree of calm in the second half of 2008, but it broke down late in the year. Each side blames the other for violating the terms. What followed is the current Israeli offensive. Matthew Levitt says it's a legitimate action.

LEVITT: I think it's actually remarkable how restrained Israel has been over the past few years as the population centers have been targeted. And nobody is happy about the cost to civilians in Gaza, but I think that Hamas burying itself within the population bears a lot of the responsibility for that.

SHARP: What's striking again with the current war is the stark divergence in narratives. Israel feels justified in using overwhelming force against Hamas in Gaza; its critics see it as unconscionable, given the extreme suffering of civilians there. For The World, I'm Jeb Sharp.

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