Hamas launched an ill-planned and unprovoked attack on Israel on 7th October 2023, and immediately after, Israel hit back with everything they had. Now, almost a year and a half after the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, the entire Gaza Strip lies in ruins.
After many months of failed ceasefire efforts and the mediation of countries like the USA, Egypt, and Qatar, the result today is that almost 50,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, including 16,000 children, and almost 90% of Gaza’s population is homeless. Yet, even after inflicting countless horrors on the 2.3 million people of Gaza, Israel has failed to achieve its targeted goal of destroying Hamas.
Although Hamas is likely to survive the onslaught, the future of the Gaza Strip “the day after” the war ends remains highly uncertain. What is Israel’s endgame for Gaza? And how does this align with the needs of ordinary Palestinians and the expectations of the broader international community?
Will Gaza even be habitable after the war? If so, what will be needed to address the massive humanitarian, infrastructural, economic, security, and governance needs of the population?
Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees have now begun to be released. Thousands of trucks carrying relief goods have entered Gaza, bringing much-needed food, water, medicine, and fuel to people in desperate need of all basic human requirements to sustain life.
So far, the Muslim countries of the world have remained silent spectators to the horrors and genocide in Gaza, and their help to the Palestinians has not gone beyond condemnation of Israel and words of sympathy for Palestine.
Once again, the entire Muslim world has proved to be nothing but a toothless tiger, unable to do anything for the suffering population of Gaza, proving the old saying that in international relations, there are no permanent enemies or permanent friends—only permanent national interests.
It now appears that Muslim states like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are not very keen on the idea of an independent Palestinian state because it may conflict with their permanent national interests
Today, the permanent national interests of frontline states like Egypt and Jordan prevent them from taking aggressive action against Israel, while countries like Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain all have diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, making Palestine no longer a priority for them.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), along with Egypt and Jordan, in Riyadh on 21st February to discuss the future of the unfortunate people of Gaza. This meeting also discussed Donald Trump’s strange and bizarre proposal of relocating the 2.3 million people from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.
Another toothless tiger of the Muslim world, the Arab League, held a meeting on 4th March in Cairo to respond to Trump’s proposal and to discuss what the Muslim world should do about the dire conditions in Gaza. This meeting focused on the reconstruction and rebuilding of post-war Gaza. It was also deliberated who should control the war-ravaged Gaza once a ceasefire is in place and Israeli forces are contained. Gaza has been under the political and economic control of Hamas since 2005.
So far, both Israel and the USA are fiercely opposed to any role for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, even though the people of Gaza have faced the Israeli onslaught on the call of their political masters, Hamas. The UN has estimated that it will take at least 30 billion US dollars to rebuild the Gaza Strip, as nearly the entire infrastructure has been reduced to rubble by the ferocious Israeli attacks from land, air, and sea. Millions of Palestinians are now homeless and faced with total extinction due to being forced to live in the open without a roof over their heads.
Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, has openly threatened the people of Gaza with another round of attacks, and Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreement, preventing aid convoys carrying food and medicine from reaching the beleaguered population.
On the other hand, ironically, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have failed miserably to lend a helping hand to the suffering people of Gaza throughout this conflict, which is now in its second year of brutality. When the Palestinians are on the brink of total annihilation, the Muslim world—particularly the oil-rich Muslim countries—has shown little interest in even supplying relief goods to the Palestinians.
Egypt, fearful of angering Israel, has consistently refused to open the Rafah crossing for relief materials to reach Gaza. It is about time that the global community takes notice of the total indifference and callous attitude of Muslim countries towards Palestine and the oppressed and suffering people of Gaza.
In recent history, the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria have suffered humiliating defeats by Israel in the wars of 1948, 1967, and even 1973.
After the Camp David Accords were signed on 17th September 1978, all the frontline Arab states in the Arab-Israel conflict shook hands with Israel, and diplomatic relations were restored.
After the Abraham Accords of 2020, many other Muslim countries—namely the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan—also recognised Israel and established trade and diplomatic relations.
It appears logical that had Hamas not attacked Israel in October 2023, Saudi Arabia too would have recognised Israel under the Abraham Accords.
It now appears that Muslim states like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are not very keen on the idea of an independent Palestinian state because it may conflict with their permanent national interests. Other supporters of Palestine, such as Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, face internal divisions and pose no real threat to Israel.
There seems to be a consensus among Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan that Hamas should not hold power in Gaza, which is in direct conflict with the will of the Palestinians in Gaza. The PLO is being backed by powerful supporters such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but in reality, the PLO lacks both the capability and the support of the people of Gaza to govern them or even the West Bank.
The Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have once again proved that they are totally incapable of forming a united alliance against Israel’s expansionist policies or even standing united in favour of an independent Palestinian state.