The lack of collective action in Gaza reflects the failure of the Arab world - opinion

Since the Hamas terror movement attacked Israel on October 7 last year, triggering the bloody war in Gaza, Arab diplomacy has done little more than repeatedly call for a ceasefire and issue condemnations that have no resonance outside local Arab media.

Many have been criticizing the feeble and restrained role of the Arabs in the Gaza crisis. Pundits and observers are perplexed by the lack of effectiveness of collective Arab diplomacy and the existence of a massive political vacuum, exploited by pro-Iranian militias.

In Yemen, the Houthi terrorist group claims to defend the Palestinian people by disrupting navigation in the Bab el-Mandeb Straits and threatening merchant ships. In Iraq, voices of other terrorist militias claiming to carry out missile attacks and drone strikes against Israel have emerged at regular intervals.

And then there’s Lebanese Hezbollah, which has become entangled in the troubled scene without achieving any real results – other than providing Israel with an additional reason to convince its Western supporters of the extent of the existential threat it faces from all sides in the Middle East region.

Lack of collective action to solve the crisis 

What remains unspoken about the Arab role in Gaza is the lack of a collective political vision for a solution to the crisis, despite the fact that it has been ongoing for over seven months.

Instead, they have settled for official face-saving statements, while refraining from calling a spade a spade and without playing any real role in saving the Palestinian people from the ruthlessness of the Iran-backed Hamas faction.

Hamas has decided to risk the fate of some two million people in the Gaza Strip to secure the release of a group of terrorists from Israeli prisons, under the guise of liberating Palestine and Jerusalem. Their plan, injudicious at best, lacked a careful study of the consequences of their bloody attack on Israel and precise scenarios for all possible responses.

Arab diplomacy has fallen victim to political one-sidedness and followed Iran’s clichéd inflammatory media discourse – and that of other countries in the region, namely Iran and Turkey – without taking any initiative; being content with the Americans putting pressure on Israel to cease its military operations in Gaza.

The question some may ask is: What could the Arabs have done to prevent the situation from deteriorating as it has? The answer begins and ends with telling it like it is, taking political responsibility, and not abandoning the Palestinian people to the senseless Hamas terror movement – which in recent months has been under the illusion that it can subjugate Israel militarily.

Personally, without hyperbole, I do not see how any organization or militia, regardless of its operational capabilities and arsenal, could defeat an army the size of the IDF with its experience, equipment, and international support.

The result of the delusional mindset of Hamas terrorists is what we are witnessing now in the form of tragedies in the Gaza Strip, amid complete paralysis and unprecedented confusion on all sides.

The Arabs made a mistake when they allowed Yahya Sinwar, the “madman” as he was called during his captivity), to manage the Gaza war – the biggest crisis in modern Arab history – and control the fate of the Gaza Strip residents by taking them hostage to achieve an illusory victory over Israel.

The daily results are more Palestinian casualties and dead Israeli hostages, as the conditions set by Sinwar in successive rounds of negotiations between Cairo and Doha – demanding written guarantees of a final ceasefire and no resumption of Israeli attacks after the end of the proposed ceasefire – are not met.

Some Arabs have exploited the crisis to inflame tempers and settle political scores under the pretext of standing up for the besieged population in Gaza, resulting in a mix-up between those who are just watching and those who are actually engaged on the humanitarian and political front.

IN TRUTH, however, there has been and continues to be room for collective Arab positions that would put things into perspective and confront the exploitative militias that have weaponized the Arab voice in the crisis, only to harm Palestinian and Arab interests alike, when pressure should have been put on foreign militia puppet masters to end the hostilities.

The concerned Arabs misjudged the extent of the Israeli anger and determination to continue the war in Gaza, as did Israel’s Western allies. All have been content to repeat the idea that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one who wants to continue the war, to save his political future.

But what about the other Israeli statesmen and leaders, such as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and others from the far Right? And why has everyone failed to make sense of Israeli psychology and the ongoing interactions within the Israeli public – focusing only on the demonstrations of the hostages’ families without factoring in the other influential variables swirling around the Israeli arena, experiencing the most complex crisis in the country’s history?

We point here to the Arab mistakes that began by drifting into the old, ubiquitous populist and sensationalist discourse, overlooking the danger of leaving it up to the ruthless Hamas decision-makers to chart the fate of Gaza’s civilians. How can we allow unhinged militias to embroil their own people in massacres and not hold them accountable for doing so?

The Hamas terror group and its enablers have been trying to embarrass Israel and put it under international pressure, to the point of using up almost all its cards. Even the worn hostage card no longer holds the same value as at the beginning of the crisis, with so many of those kidnapped found dead – or unaccounted for.

And so, it is now up to Israel to impose the reality it wants on the Gaza Strip.

The writer is a UAE political analyst and former Federal National Council candidate.