The path from declarations of intent to real peace remains difficult
The peace summit held in Egypt on resolving the conflict in the Gaza Strip was a large-scale event involving a number of regional and extra-regional actors, with strong participation from European countries. Its outcomes, however, were largely declarative. One of the main reasons for this was the absence of one of the key players at the negotiating table — Israel.
Ibragim Ibragimov:
The Blockade’s Toll: How War Is Deepening the...
... United Nations serves as the primary coordinator. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) leads situation monitoring and organizes aid deliveries, though it regularly faces access restrictions. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has opened hundreds of housing centers during the war, which hosted hundreds of thousands of people, but has suffered unprecedented losses among its staff and a depletion of resources. UNICEF focuses on water ...
... engagement, with significant repercussions for both regional and global stability. The Middle East is already a highly volatile region, and any attempts to alter the existing dynamics in Gaza could catalyse a broader conflict, drawing in not only Israel and Palestine but also neighbouring states and international powers. Additionally, the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq serves as a salient case study. While initial military operations successfully led to the ousting of Saddam Hussein, the subsequent fallout manifested ...
... status-quo or will it be forced to review and to revise its positions towards Israel, Palestinians, Iran and its main partners in the Arab world? Let us have a look at the most important pieces of the rich and diverse Middle East mosaic, namely—on Israel, Palestine, Iran and the Arab Gulf states.
Israel
The Russian-Israeli relations started experiencing problems long before the US 2024 elections. In particular, the launch of the special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 had a significant ...
Arab countries are not ready to significantly transform their policies and become actively involved in the conflict in the Middle East
Over fifty years ago, in October 1973, the largest energy crisis in history erupted. It was provoked by an oil embargo imposed by members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), as well as Egypt and Syria. The embargo was targeted against the United States and its allies who were assisting Israel in the Doomsday War. The member-states...
A vertical rather than horizontal escalation can be expected, involving other actors in the war
In the autumn of 2024, the situation in the Middle East sharply escalated. Sporadic exchanges between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel, which had been observed since the October 7, 2023, attacks, evolved into active hostilities. On September 17–18, 2024, pagers and other means of communication belonging to Hezbollah members were detonated inside Lebanon. Israel then launched operation “Northern Arrows”...
... all fronts between Israel and the axis of resistance.
[1] The resistance axis: is a political term used primarily in the Middle East and means the implicit strategic alliance (political and military) that primarily opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This axis includes: Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine, as well as the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, also the Houthi Ansar Allah movement in Yemen.
Salam AL Rabadi
... on Israel and its allies following the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. Efforts to further promote the Abraham Accords between Israel and the conservative Arab monarchies continued, albeit fading from the public eye. The only consistent supporters of Palestine were the stubborn Yemeni Houthis, who have attacked foreign ships in the Red Sea. However, it was Egypt—not Israel—that suffered the most from these attacks, losing nearly half of its revenues from the Suez Canal.
Regional Trends in the ...
China is more than willing to contribute to regional stability and peace
On July 23, 2024, China successfully hosted and mediated the internal reconciliation of Palestine, where 14 Palestinian factions signed the Beijing Declaration. China’s role has certainly been a decisive one, though the roles of Russia and other regional actors in their previous efforts to aid Palestine are also notable. The implications ...
... successfully brokered the normalization of ties between Israel and four Arab countries, this will not last as long as the U.S. continues to ignore the elephant in the room and the plight of the Palestinians. Hostilities will resume periodically between Palestine and Israel, which means that permanent peace in the region remains impossible.
While the U.S. was initially supportive of Israel,
there is a growing rift between the Biden administration and Israel
. Afraid of losing his grip on power, Israeli ...
