Palestine... a new edition of the world order

The Russo-Ukrainian war is no longer the only cuisine forging a new world order. Chefs have moved to a new cuisine in the Middle East.

The October 7 war between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip may expand its tables for new players who are not in agreement in the ongoing political calculations. But the moment of war imposed its rules and defined its parties.

This round is not like all previous rounds, in terms of gains and losses. The shock and surprise confused Israel's calculations, and even revealed the emptiness and failure of its multiple intelligence agencies, as acknowledged by the head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi. The blow is painful for Ben-Gurion's grandchildren in power.

The historical circumstance during which Israel was established is no longer appropriate for the dictionary of the twenty-first century. Palestine, which experienced the Nakba during the Israeli rise under international sponsorship, is no longer the traditional Palestine that lived for 75 years as a stage for players from different parts of the world. She was exhausted by promises and maneuvers. Its patience lasted long, and it paid heavy prices for its freedom, its people, its economy, and its stability. Half of its people are displaced and refugees, and the other half lives under the harshest occupation in history, committing the most heinous types of crimes against humanity. This occupation has not been deterred by all initiatives, agreements, nor international laws and covenants from continuing to implement its old, renewed plans that aim to expel the Palestinian brothers from their lands. , and replacing the settlers in their places, in the same way from which the idea of Israeli presence began before 1948.

This time in the wars taking place between the two sides, generations, rules, and balances of power differed. Israel came through a global system that marked the end of World War II in 1945. It is the same system that ignored the Palestinian right. Now this world order is cracking, with cracks in its walls caused by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Features of a phase for a new world order, but this time it will be signed on the morning of October 7, 2023.

The occupant of the White House was still asleep as the clock was a quarter past twelve Eastern time in the United States of America, while the master of the Kremlin was just awake to follow the last point reached by the Russian army in eastern and southern Ukraine. At the same time, the “Chinese Dragon” was trying to decipher the code. The complexities of the new American strategy in the Indo-Pacific region. Everyone was surprised by an unprecedented bloody scene, in one of the Israeli-Palestinian wars, and the cards were mixed up in Washington, Moscow, and Beijing.

Accounting fears chased the ambition of the Big Three. What is going on in the Middle East? Are the pawns of the three-way race moving to the region? Global support for Israel revealed the West's concerns about the new players establishing themselves in the Middle East, as Washington was the quickest to send the newest aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean. The messages carry more than one meaning, messages to its opponents in the region, and other messages that the Russian bear understands, and the Chinese dragon thinks well about.

There is no doubt that amidst these bloody messages, there are losing parties and others who are winning. The initial reading of what is happening now in the Palestinian-Israeli arena will rearrange the regional and international balances once again.

If Washington had openly announced its full support for Israel, showed the red eye to its competitors in the region, took the initiative to provide military, political, diplomatic and media assistance, and blessed the violent Israeli position from the first moment, then this was an incentive for Washington’s allies to move in the same direction. Indeed, they They traveled long distances in a short time in the direction of attacking the Palestinians, and this may have increased the complications of return or self-examination. America is moving according to geopolitical calculations that are broader than Gaza and Palestine, and even broader than the Arab region and the Middle East. The White House wears magnifying glasses with which it sees the future of its seat in the world order, the features of which this war has become part of shaping. Therefore, American calculations will not ignore the alliance of its competitors, which It includes Iran and its arms in the region, in addition to Russia, China and their allies.

If we look at American calculations, Washington sees the importance and necessity of resolving this Palestinian-Israeli conflict quickly, so as not to enter into a war on more than one front, and become divided between Ukraine and Israel. In addition, America has equations that say that a quick resolution will preserve Washington’s position in The prospective international system. At the same time, Moscow sees this conflict as an opportunity to prove itself and the validity of the Russian point of view that it has tried to market since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In addition, the Kremlin sees American involvement in this Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a beginning to ease Western pressure on Russia on the Ukraine front, and reduce NATO support for Ukraine; Especially since he will be heading towards Israel.

Beijing also has its own calculations. Everything it has accomplished in the Middle East during the past periods, it wants to confirm and build on to deepen its political and economic presence, as it is concerned with Taiwan and the South China Sea, in addition to the fact that China has a belief that America’s preoccupation with the events of the Middle East will ease the burdens on the Chinese shoulders in the Indo-Arabic region. “Pacific,” not to mention the Chinese vision that sees the heavy American presence in the Middle East as a great opportunity for people to side with Beijing’s policy and not Washington’s policy.

Therefore, this historical round between the two sides, the Palestinian and the Israeli, will not end without redrawing the borders of international balances and powers again, leading to writing a “new edition” of the world order.

Jamal Al-Kashki - Editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine. Member of the Board of Directors of Al-Ahram Foundation

Source: Asharq Al Awsat