Palestine Crisis Developments and Changes in the Middle East -Imran Nazir

A small group of Jews people have been living alongside Muslim Arabs amicably for a long time near old city Jerusalem. Palestine was more or less in order and peace then. But the rise of Hitler in Germany in 1930s had deeper consequence for the Palestine state and people. Indeed, Jews have largely been subject to exploitation and subjugation in many countries of Europe where Arabs have nothing to do with. Germany was the worst case where they faced a devastating genocide during the Second World War. So, the urgency of creating a safe home for Jews community felt deeply among victors of war due to their active assistance to doom Nazis. At the same time, Zionists help British to win in the World War I and then II with the help of America. In return, the claimed Jerusalem and its nearby area, Palestine, to British to establish a Jewish country named Israel. To resolve such crisis of Jews, another worst humanitarian crisis was initiated through the use of force and dexterity which lays the foundation of geopolitical battles over the Middle East for last seventy years.

Recent humanitarian crisis in East Jerusalem and Gaza is not a new phenomenon rather a continuation of ongoing conflict against the plight of Palestinians under Jews. Approximately 250 Palestinian civilians have been killed in this war where at least 12 Jews have died due to the rocket attacks from Gaza by Hamas. So, minimally both parties had to pay humanitarian cost despite the uneven consequences. External pressure has created a compulsion to deescalate the ongoing series of conflicts between Israeli security force against civilians. An unconditional ceasefire has been called between Israel and Hamas on May 21 with the mediation of Egypt. Palestinians have regarded this as victory against Israeli aggression.

Today’s humanitarian devastation in Palestine did not come overnight. Palestinian maps have been modified multiple times against the international law with the use of force. At least five major wars have been taken place between Arab-Israel. Foolish Muslim leadership could not match the strategic performance of Israel in any occasion. Last blow was the Oslo accord which laid the framework of further expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinians. Secret diplomacy took place between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993 with the mediation of Norway. Basically, this accord was destined to address the administrative power transfer and share between Israel and PLO authority with the hope of creating a viable two state functioning. A vast number of Israelis and Palestinians did not take Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rubin’s initiative. Despite Israel having upper hand in this accord, a vast number of Jews feared losing their illegal annexation of Palestinian houses and territories by this legal agreement. Implementation of accord could also stop their future greed to annex further land of Palestinians. So, Jews anger caused the assassination of Rubin in 1995. On the other hand, Palestinians saw this appeasement though the recognition of Israel state means the denial of Palestine state. There can be no viable two state solution with Israel as the birth of this country was the result of terror against the existing communities. Indeed, that fear materialized on the ground over the years as Israel has never complied with the principalities of the accord rather continually violated it. Annexing Palestinians owned territory and killing them over continued security clashes have been pursued all along. Israel is heading towards the one state solution and that is the total disappearance of Palestinians from the Palestine. Recent takeover attempt of Sheikh Jarrah community in the East Jerusalem is the wider approach of Jews to displace the remaining Muslims living there. Even ancestors of Jews have suggested their predecessors to create a terrorized situation so that Palestinians give up and leave their territory eventually. But Israel may not have expected such backfire from Palestinians and Hamas.

Crisis in Palestine is nothing new but this time was unique for few reasons. First of all, Arab neighbours are not with Palestinians as they literally used to be. Secondly, in-group cohesion has been tightened among Palestinians living mainland and Gaza strip. Arab politics is experiencing a dynamic shift in the regional landscape of the Middle East. Recently United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have recognized Israel as third and fourth Arab nation to recognize Israel. This normalization process comes with the affirmation of Saudi Arabia. Arab monarchs have traditionally maintained secret diplomacy with Israel for making their monarchical establishment secure from external and internal disruption like Islam political parties and growing power of Iran. Iran revolution occurred by opposing America and its puppet Iran secular government.. At that time, Saudi Arabia was ally with American in terms of Petro Dollar and so on. Moreover, Saudi Arabia was Sunni Majority and on the other hand, Iran was Shia Majority country. So Saudi Arabia and its ally America easily used such option for their political gain. Insecurity for Islam political parties like Muslim Brotherhood and common enemy of America like Iran helped them make a relation with America and Israel. Now they are openly supporting Israel as Iran is accelerating its power projection in the Middle East. This common fear of insecurity of Israel and Arab Monarchs in the hands of Iran has marginalized the plight of Palestinians in the recent time. Iran is directly posing military and ideological threat to Arab monarchs especially for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UEA whereas Iran’s ambition to grow within Middle East opposing the interests of Israel is making both parties common enemy of Israel. Hamas has quite often been supported by Iran with rocket development unofficially causing headache for Israel. So, these realities make Arab-Jews normalization as a vivid reality. USA plays a crucial role in creating this bondage. Consequently, no major Arab country is raising voice against the Israeli occupation against Palestinians. The rationality of self-determination has widely been propelled to justify Israel’s unlawful action. Egypt is helping Israel closely in this regard via creating geopolitical blockade against Gaza strip. However, Western countries have always been sympathetic to individuals’ right to self-determination but none is talking about gross human rights violation here as civilians and their residences are targeted in Israeli airstrikes. Muslim Arabs have taken the same strategy to put forward blame game against agitated Palestinians and Hamas authority for being outspoken for their rights. This disunity among Muslims gives Israel considerable leverage to weaken Palestinians and Muslim ummah as a whole.So, resolving Palestine crisis needs to eradicate division among Muslim countries first than consensus among superpowers.

Fresh Palestine crisis holds old legacy but new developments have been seen. Palestinians from both sides (Jerusalem and Gaza) have shown immense solidarity against the aggression of Israel. This indicates that they want to reduce internal fractions and fight for their freedom to have own state unitedly. Specially the unprecedented improvement in Hamas’s resistance capability caught Israel in surprise. At least few of missiles could escape Iron Domeand convey the threat to Tel Aviv. It surely boosted Palestinians mental confidence against all odds happening there. Those who used to be irritated by the activities of Hamas now are likely to turn to them as only Hamas raised their voice against the recent Israeli aggressive expansions in the East Jerusalem. Another development of this crisis is the internal disturbance among Arab-Israelis who feel Israel’s actions pathetic. Netanyahu surely wanted to benefit by this crisis in his election campaign but things may turn differently as psychological changes are taking place among Palestinians and a portion of Arab Jews.

Author of this article is an analyst in
international relations.