On October 7, 2023, an event took place in Israel that radically altered world politics and changed the situation surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A great many conspiracy theories have already grown up around the incident \u2014 among them the claim that informal Israeli-Palestinian understandings were in place, that one side overdid it, and that the other is now obliged to overdo it in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is another view, however: that this situation, tragic for Israelis and Palestinians alike, took shape as a result of the implementation of the Abraham Accords \u2014 the series of agreements normalizing relations between Israel and Arab states signed in 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point is not that Iran opposes a rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judging by the statements of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Iran is not directly connected to the Hamas attack on Israel on Saturday, October 7. For Iran, for Hezbollah, and for the other participants in the Middle East conflict alike, an attack out of the Gaza Strip on the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War came as a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my view, a different version is possible, and it is supported by a great deal of varied evidence. The Hamas attack is capable of serving as one stage in a plan to advance a new regional bloc under the American umbrella, comprising Israel and the Sunni monarchies of the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This new regional bloc is being created as another watchtower against the “axis of evil” \u2014 China, Iran, Russia, North Korea \u2014 on a par with the Indo-Pacific military-political bloc AUKUS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have seen how important this project is to the U.S. administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On September 20 in New York, at the meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and Joseph Biden held on the margins of the UN General Assembly, the talk was chiefly of advancing an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Every day we get closer,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview with Fox News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are at the threshold of a historic peace,” Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed from the rostrum of the General Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two questions stood in the way of the new defensive and economic union: the Palestinian question and the question of Saudi Arabia’s nuclear program. While the Israelis raised no particular objection to the Saudi nuclear program, the situation with Palestine became a problem \u2014 especially for Netanyahu’s right-wing government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relations between Israel and the Palestinian administration in the West Bank are, on the whole, established. With Hamas, however, difficulties arose, since the organization pursues a policy of armed struggle against Israel and is strengthening its political influence in the territory of the Palestinian autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neither Israel nor the Palestinian administration wanted a repetition of the events in Gaza \u2014 a new Hamas victory at democratic elections, this time in the West Bank. Hamas, then, was precisely what stood in the way of creating the new American watchtower in the Middle East, and the tasks assigned to that watchtower are of the first importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Biden-Netanyahu meeting in New York, the two leaders welcomed the creation of the India\u2013Middle East\u2013Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), announced at the G20 summit and set to run through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clearly, the American watchtower in the Middle East is not only a military bloc but, above all, a new regional financial and economic hub set against China’s economic expansion. The corridor project announced at the G20 is an obvious alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. And within that project Israel performs a key role as the trade gateway to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The American nuclear umbrella, Israeli technology and finance, the oil, gas, and human resources of the Muslim countries of the Middle East \u2014 such is the foundation of the watchtower Washington would like to erect, and to complete on the eve of a presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The world of big money does not tolerate obstructions, and the obstruction that is Hamas must be neutralized now, despite the enormous casualties among the civilian population of Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us not guess at who exactly organized this operation, but we can see how much effort is being expended to make the events of October 7, 2023, look like an independent Hamas operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What, then, might the principal purpose of the current escalation be? Odd as it may sound, the development of the situation will most likely lead to the creation of a managed Palestinian state. The destruction of Hamas and the transfer of the administration of Gaza to a loyal Palestinian leadership are the basic precondition for that process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, as far as I understand it, the Palestinian state will still not be created within the borders defined by UN Resolution 181, whose seventy-fifth anniversary passed not long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Borders will be negotiated under conditions of a rapid handover of Gaza to the administration of the Palestinian authority, in a situation of military and humanitarian crisis, with promises to pour large sums into Palestine and to bring it into new economic projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The events of October 7 have put an end to the future of Netanyahu’s coalition. Once the Strip has been cleared of Hamas, a new government will be formed in Israel under attentive American guidance, and it is that government that will approve the creation of a Palestinian state. And the carrot of Bibi’s resignation will help the Israeli public accept the compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the more so because the decision on the status of Jerusalem will most likely be frozen for several years \u2014 as part of “stabilizing” the new borders. And by then, either the padishah will drop dead or the donkey will learn to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, in my view, the events of October 7 are meant to accomplish the following tasks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 radicalization of the global foreign-policy agenda (the Ukrainian-Russian conflict launched the trend, but it is plainly not enough);<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 transfer of Gaza to the administration of the Palestinian authority, creation of a controlled Palestinian state with the question of Jerusalem’s status deferred, and the subsequent accelerated construction of the American watchtower in the Middle East;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 putting Israel on a war footing in order to accelerate the creation of this new military-economic bloc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the mass casualties? Unfortunately, in a world of big money and geopolitical interests, a few thousand and even a few tens of thousands of lives are not so high a price for the ruling classes to pay in pursuit of their goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another matter is that history has shown more than once that any plan can slip out of control at any moment and collapse like a house of cards. And the actions of the Israeli army are capable of destroying not only hospitals but the prospects of any deal whatsoever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a World of Big Money and Geopolitical Interests, a Few Thousand Lives Seem Like No Great Price On October 7, 2023, an event took place in Israel that radically altered world politics and changed the situation surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict. A great many conspiracy theories have already grown up around the incident \u2014 among them the claim that informal Israeli-Palestinian understandings were in place, that one side overdid it, and that the other is now obliged to overdo it in turn. There is another view, however: that this situation, tragic for Israelis and Palestinians alike, took shape as a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[109,300,107,108,242],"class_list":["post-8828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activity","category-articles-en","tag-geopolitics","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n