The current violent conflict between Israel and Hamas has been continuing for over two weeks now, resulting in a large number of deaths every hour. Since October 7 the Israeli army has been continually and mercilessly subjecting the entirely blockaded Gaza Strip to powerful bombardments in the face of protests from around the world.
Predictably, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was the site of a particularly tragic incident that claimed the lives of more than 500 Palestinians and left hundreds injured, including both patients and displaced persons who were seeking shelter in the hospital. Equally predictably, the Israeli authorities have claimed, without offering any evidence, that the hospital was hit by a Hamas rocket. The situation in Gaza is an extremely severe and devastating humanitarian catastrophe, in which more than 2.3 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages of electricity, gas and water. They are under continuous attack from the air, and are unable to find a safe refuge either in hospitals or in monasteries, as everything is being subjected to a barbaric bombardment.
As tensions escalate, with the Israeli army preparing for a ground operation, the countries in the region are stepping up their efforts to put pressure on both sides to end the conflict in Gaza and provide urgently needed aid to the suffering population. Since the international community has limited influence over Israel and it has been unable to achieve anything, the responsibility for active intervention now largely rests on the shoulders of the countries in this volatile region.
Looking back at past conflicts between the Israelis and the Palestinians, we can see that in 2012 it was the pressure exerted by the countries in the region that ultimately secured a ceasefire, an achievement which at the time seemed almost impossible. Back then, the foreign ministers of various Arab states and Turkey promptly traveled to Gaza to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people. These visits were especially important, as they took place during Israel’s aerial bombardment of Gaza. Israel was forced to halt its operations because of the powerful message conveyed from Gaza by the visiting foreign ministers.
However, the significant changes that have occurred in the region since then have made it far more difficult to achieve a collective regional response to the current conflict. News of the Israel’s strike on the hospital in Gaza sparked protests around the world, including in Turkey. Regardless of their attitude towards Hamas or Israel, people are protesting because they recognize that the situation has changed dramatically, and that things are far worse than they have ever been. Slowly, but surely, the calls of the protestors are being heard in diplomatic circles. As a result, the world is now witnessing intense diplomatic efforts by the countries in the region. While Turkey is among the most active in this process, all of these countries are deeply concerned about the possible spread of the conflict to Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
When we look at the diplomatic contacts between Turkey and a number of other countries since October 7, it becomes clear that the path to ending the conflict depends on the countries in the region taking the lead in de-escalating the tensions, rather than global powers such as the US, which has given its strong support to Israel without showing any concern at all for the legitimate rights of the Arab people of Palestine. China, which has long been a supporter of Palestine, faces a dilemma: it is prevented from taking a clear stance by its growing ties with Israel.
In view of the above situation, the Middle Eastern states, as usual, have to deal with the situation on their own. The effects of the ongoing conflict are being felt far beyond the region, raising fears that it could lead to a wider war involving the Palestinians in the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt (which borders the Gaza Strip) and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. It is possible that in the future other countries may be drawn into the conflict, including, first and foremost, the US, an aggressive nation which already has two carrier battle groups present off Israel’s coast, which are, as Joe Biden has promised, ready to support Tel Aviv at any moment. Quite naturally, the countries of the region want the hostilities in Gaza to end as soon as possible, before they spread to other states in the region, which would make the conflict much more difficult to extinguish.
So far, these countries have made various isolated attempts to develop a common strategy and unite in the face of a very dangerous conflict. Thus, in response to an invitation by Saudi Arabia, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an urgent meeting in Jeddah to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza. On the sidelines of the meeting, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, had separate meetings with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In the OIC meeting, Hakan Fidan highlighted three key points: the need for a new mechanism to bring peace to Gaza, the need for a unified stance from the Muslim world, and the urgent need to supply water, electricity and aid to the Gazans.
Before his trip to Saudi Arabia, Fidan held meetings in Lebanon with both political and military officials. And before that he traveled to Egypt. Lebanon and Egypt are on the brink of being drawn into the ongoing conflict. The main goal of Hakan Fidan’s visits, it seems, was to show that Turkey is willing to help prevent the conflict from spreading. Ankara’s stance is interesting, because the Ottoman Empire once ruled all the Arab countries, and Turkish officials have experience in talking with Arabs and know how to win their trust and respect.
As Israel continues to attack the Gaza Strip, its neighbors Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan have strengthened their security measures. According to news reports, as a precaution in the case of a possible conflict with Israel, Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines is keeping some of its planes in Turkey. Hakan Fidan also called on the Palestinian groups to release their hostages, which is one of the key issues that the countries in the region are focusing on. But, if the Palestinians make this concession—the latest, and surely not the last of the concessions they have made during the many years that Palestinians and Israelis have lived together in the same land—will the Israeli authorities tone down some of their demands?
The latest dramatic new surge of violence erupted after a long period of de-escalation and reconciliation efforts in the region. In the current circumstances, the first priority of the Middle Eastern states is to end the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza. However, as the current war makes it clear once again, without a definite solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the countries of the region will not be able to achieve real security. That is why, ultimately, they need to direct their efforts towards changing the outcome of this conflict to ensure a better future for the Palestinian people and the peoples of the region as a whole.
It appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin was right when he called for an end to the bloody war on the Gaza Strip and for all interested parties to sit down at the negotiating table and seek a just solution to the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict in the interests of all the peoples of the Middle East.
Victor Mikhin, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
