Russia's Push for Palestinian State Can Help Stop Endless 'Loop' of Regional Violence
17:59 GMT 18.01.2024 (Updated: 10:28 GMT 30.01.2024)
© AFP 2023 / HAZEM BADER
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The Russia’s foreign minister has reiterated Moscow’s support for Palestinian statehood, and announced plans to present proposals to resolve the crisis in the Middle East at the United Nations Security Council next week. How will Arab World respond to Russia’s overtures? Sputnik asked a veteran Saudi foreign affairs observer.
A lasting resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis is the keystone to regional stability, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
“The main focus of efforts should be the creation of a Palestinian state in full compliance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. The state described in these decisions would be competent and would exist in security and good neighborliness side by side with Israel and other countries in the region,” Lavrov said, speaking at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2023 on Thursday.
“Without the establishment of a Palestinian state, the Palestinian people will continue to feel disadvantaged and disenfranchised. Generation after generation of young Palestinians will fell this injustice and pass it on to their children. This must end through the creation of a Palestinian state. I hope that the Israeli leadership will eventually come to this conclusion…Without the establishment of a Palestinian state, there can be not reliable security for Israel,” Lavrov said.
The foreign minister announced plans to address the United Nations Security Council next Tuesday to discuss how the crisis in the Middle East can be resolved through “collective efforts,” in place of current attempts by the United States to “advance its agenda around the world.”
“Perhaps our Western colleagues should learn some life lessons. And the countries of the region must insist that they are the ones who live here, and that for them, the security of all states [in the region] is of decisive importance to them. No one wants to prohibit advice from the outside, but the final decisions should be made by regional countries themselves,” Lavrov stressed.
Muslim World’s ‘Dream’
The creation of a Palestinian state is the “dream” of the Arab and Muslim World, and Russia’s position on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis indicates a very good understanding of the Middle East, says Riyadh-based political analyst Dr. Ahmed Al Ibrahim.
Russia’s position on Palestinian statehood is “going to be very well-received,” Al Ibrahim told Sputnik.
“It’s going to cause stability. It’s going to give a lot of ground for the foreign policy of Russia to integrate here in the Muslim-Arab World. If Russia succeeded in that, then Russia has solved the most crucial thing in the history of this region by aligning Israel and Palestine to be together next [to each other]. And they’re going to win the hearts and the minds of the Arab and the Muslim World.”
Attempts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have been spearheaded by the United States for some seven decades, Al Ibrahim recalled, noting that in all this time “nothing happened except destruction for the Palestinian land, and more expansion, more settlers taking lands.”
“Definitely the whole world would welcome Russia and the BRICS members to be mediating this. But the solution is going to be very hard. Russia and the BRICS members [would] have to coordinate with the United States and with Britain because they are the majority stakeholders of this file, in order to yank it from them and do something on the ground,” the political analyst noted.
Otherwise, unless a genuine, multilateral effort is launched to establish Palestinian statehood, the cycle of violence being seen today will continue indefinitely, Al Ibrahim believes.
21 November 2023, 18:44 GMT
Does Israel Want Peace?
“The real core of the problem is in the deep mind and the deep state of the Israelis,” Al Ibrahim stressed. “Do they want a two-state solution? We still see at the Knesset, when you enter the building, a big map – a big Israeli state from the [Jordan] River to the Sinai. If this is the creed of the Israelis, then there is no point of anybody mediating and Israel needs to work within themselves in order to come up an evolution to change their mindset and work to have a peaceful neighboring country with the Arab World supporting them. By reaching that, Israel is going to gain a lot by normalizing relationships with many Arab and Muslim countries,” he emphasized.
“But if they’re going to play the cat and mouse game, you know, ‘I say something and I do something else on the ground,’ this is not going to work,” Al Ibrahim said, saying Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Arab countries and the Muslim World in general are too smart to be tricked by such deception.
Washington’s intransigence and blind support for Tel Aviv is another problem, Al Ibrahim said, pointing out that unlike in the case of Iran-Saudi normalization, where China was able to swoop in last year and mediate a surprise normalization deal, in the case of Palestine-Israel normalization a third country coming in and finding a resolution seems impossible. This will be the case so long as the US decides that it “cannot let their favorite ally, Israel, go,” even if it means jeopardizing their position and moral standing vis-à-vis the rest of the world.
Gulf Trust in America 'Gone'
The Biden administration’s unflinching stand with Israel has severely undermined its relationships with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab World, Al Ibrahim believes.
“To be honest, if there was hope to regain the momentum…and the solidarity of the United States’ [trustful] policy in the GCC and the Arab countries, it’s gone. Not only that…America has lost its own peoples’ belief in the government. We’ve seen how many riots are [taking place] there. We’ve seen how many people went into the streets in America, saying ‘stop killing the Palestinians’, ‘stop backing up Israel’…From a PR standpoint, I think Palestine won over Israel, no doubt about that,” he emphasized.
The same is the case in Saudi Arabia, traditionally one of Washington’s key allies in the region, Al Ibrahim stressed.
“People in the Middle East are very emotional. I’ve seen so many people coming to me, asking ‘have you seen the news?’ And they start crying. I've never seen this before here in Saudi Arabia. People are attached to this cause. Every human being, every American, every national. They cannot see kids getting killed, infants, women, for God's sake! All these things. And they don't blame it on Israel. They blame it on America,” the observer said, highlighting that without US support, the IDF’s campaign wouldn’t be able to continue.
Ultimately, Al Ibrahim said, Washington’s diplomacy seems aimed only at giving the Israelis more time to “position themselves” to try to push the Palestinians into the West Bank, Jordan, and Egypt.
“So if there is anybody that you can talk to on the street over here in Riyadh and you tell them, do you trust the United States’ diplomatic efforts in solving this issue, they would definitely say, ‘we don't’. So it's time for somebody to fill this vacuum, if the United States and Britain would let them in and solve this file. And it needs to start with the mindset of the Israelis,” Al Ibrahim summed up.
