The Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Dr. Azmi Bishara, now, in an interview on “Arab TV”, regarding the war on Gaza “between American support and the steadfastness of the resistance.”

Dr.. Azmi Bishara, during the interview

He said that “Israel wants to turn the Gaza Strip into a place unfit for life,” explaining that “the behavior of the resistance clearly indicates that it has prepared for a ground invasion scenario.” 

He stated that “the structure of the UN Security Council cannot continue in its current state.” He also stressed that "the Palestine issue is a revealing issue and the war on Gaza revealed the Council's shortcomings." He stressed that "the Arab peoples taking to the streets is necessary, because it will confirm that the aggression against Gaza represents a real threat to the stability of the region."

Bishara pointed out that the resistance’s behavior and Israel’s surprise at it suggest that the Palestinian factions were well prepared for the occupation’s intention to invade Gaza, as evidenced by the number of wounded and dead that Israel recognizes among the ranks of its army, recalling that the official announcement speaks of two thousand wounded, while the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper revealed that they are five thousand. 

Bishara preferred to use the term “thwarting the aggression” to describe what is currently happening, rather than the term “victory,” and asked in this context: If Israel is surprised by Hamas’ offensive capabilities, why does it claim to know its defensive capabilities? He pointed out that just as Israel was confused in responding to the operation of last October 7, it was not prepared in the ground attack as well, because it failed to crystallize what the general goal of the ground invasion meant, i.e. “eliminating Hamas.”

He noted that Israel's settler-colonial logic in its treatment of the Palestinians with superiority, ignorance and contempt leads to adverse results for its owner because this mentality prevents the occupation from understanding its enemy and knowing its capabilities and thus being surprised by its operations, and this is what is happening today in the face of the resistance.

Regarding his expectations for the outcome of the war, Bishara considered that, “We must know exactly the extent of what was inflicted on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian people, while we do not know the outcome of matters, and it may end in a war of attrition for months or more.”

Regarding the arrest of civilians in northern Gaza a few days ago and photographing them semi-naked, Bishara believed that the aim of this was mainly to punish the steadfastness of these people in their areas in the northern Gaza Strip. He asserted that the pictures of these young men “do not diminish their dignity before us, but rather diminish the dignity of the Israeli soldiers.” In a related context, Bishara pointed out that saying that the Palestinian people “love death” is insulting to the Palestinians, so the theory that we should underestimate the images of the Palestinian people’s tragedy and focus only on the images of confrontations and resistance is not correct.

The Arab peoples taking to the streets is what is missing from the scene

Regarding the Arab peoples not taking to the streets to the required degree, Bishara said, “As long as the possibility of the major Arab regimes moving is excluded, the Arab peoples going out to the streets is what is missing from the scene, and would contribute to stopping the war, because then America might feel... Indeed, what Israel is doing constitutes a threat to stability in the region and in the major Arab countries.”

In general, the Arab position, in Bishara’s opinion, is a “spectator position” and a fear that we are in the process of giving Israel the opportunity until the end of this year to completely destroy Gaza and make it unviable, and then to position itself inside the Strip and begin carrying out special operations and assassinations.

Bishara considered that “the criterion for supporting the Palestinian people today is not showing off on social media, but rather going out into the street.” Regarding the tour of the delegation emerging from the joint Arab-Islamic summit in a number of world capitals, Bishara noted that “there is no common will to do more than what the group of Arab and Islamic countries is doing,” as the tour is “good public relations,” but it is nothing more than that. .

According to the director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, some Arab countries that were eager for Israel to eliminate Hamas have now begun to feel that Israel has become a danger in an uncalculated adventure that may lead to instability. According to the Director General of the Arab Center, the October 7 operation spoiled a major American project based on confronting China and building an Israeli-Arab axis that maintains stability in the Middle East.

Intercepting Israeli ships and threatening ships heading to them

Bishara stated that the Houthis’ interception and threat to the movement of Israeli ships or those heading to Israel in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea has begun to actually have an economic impact on Israel, “and that is through a rational discourse” that draws an equation that the siege of Gaza is met with a naval siege of Israel. He said, "It cannot be denied that the steps taken by the Houthis have an impact."

He said that if the Arab countries had implemented the decision to break the siege on Gaza, there would not have been room for non-Arabs such as Iran to be a support for Hamas, which would prefer to be supported by Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, for example.

Bishara reiterated his opinion that Arab countries are not required to declare war on Israel, but rather to take steps that will benefit them in political influence, in the “next day” negotiations, and in regional power equations in general. He placed the current Arab behavior within the framework of “harmful to the national security of each individual Arab state.”

The American veto and the moral loss

Regarding the American veto in the UN Security Council to reject the draft resolution calling for a ceasefire, Bishara recalled that the session was held based on the activation by the Secretary-General of the United Nations of Article 99 of the Charter of the International System. He noticed that António Guterres was late in his move, but he took it in the end.

Source: arab48