WHEN we talk of world affairs in terms of war and peace, it can be rightly said that no region has never ever cradled the attention of world politics as that of the Middle East. Since 1967, this region has remained the nucleus of the Arab-Israel conflict–the hotbed of American policy in the region. That said, to save the Israeli interests in the region, Washington has doctrinally fostered a parallel strategy of war (intrinsic) and peace (extrinsic) in this region. In latest context, Ismail Haniyah’s killing exposes the ugly face of Mideast war mongers.
In an ominous development, one of Hamas leading mentors, Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on morning (July31), an attack that has sent a message of deep condolence accompanied by a profound grief–among the Muslims throughout the world in general-and in the Middle Eastern Muslim community in particular. There is a scowling concern that the conflict in Gaza may turn into a wider Middle East war. Ismail Haniyeh seems to have been playing a key role in mediated talks aimed at ending nearly 10 months of war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip. Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”. Vowing to retaliate, the Tehran leadership said the U.S. bore responsibility because of its support for Israel.
Arguably, given the past legacy of US foreign policy in the Mideast region, it is no secret that crisis management has been the pivot of America’s global diplomacy. But creating a crisis with a means to serve its geostrategic, geopolitical and geoeconomic interests and then managing it via peace diplomacy has remained a decades old fashion of the American power in the Mideast region. Israel has emerged as America’s a pampered child in the region. Countless Books written, numerous observations marked, and manifold commentaries are honeycombed with the insights—endorsing this truth.
Moreover, the ongoing developments endorse US-Israel warmongering temptation in that the US military – with regard to an anticipatory action-reaction trajectory –is planning to deploy additional military hardware, including fighter jets and navy warships to the Middle East, the Pentagon said on Friday. The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, approved sending the additional Navy cruisers and destroyers – which can shoot down ballistic missiles – to the Middle East and Europe on Friday. Whereas, a Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri commented on the announcement, telling Reuters: “Netanyahu does not want to stop the war and is using these empty statements to cover up his crimes and evade their consequences.” Moreover, The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group could potentially move into the Gulf of Aden or the Red Sea, where Navy warships have intercepted dozens of Houthi launches.
And yet, in his fear to lose the ongoing Gaza war and being highly frustrated with ICJ‘s ruling on July regarding Israel’s genocide and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu is orchestrating a strategy to involve a centrifugal trajectory of war via expanding the theatre of war. Needless to say, both the US and Israel have lost the moral and legal grounding of the Gaza war—endorsed by the ICJ advisory opinion of July 19. Israel has insecurity of losing its impunity whereas the Gaza war has already undermined the US-Israel image in the world. The gross HR violations committed by Israel in GAZA is reawakening I the moral conscience of the global civil society. Israel is already apprehended of the upcoming move of a warrant by the ICC
The mysterious timing of Haniya’s killing indicate that the centrifugal forces against the Mideast peace Plan were not happy with the Beijing declaration of July 23—an historical hallmark of reuniting the Palestinian factions which created discomfiture in the US and Israel’s political and policy circles. The Beijing agreement was an antithesis to a promised false dawn of Mideast peace. Just after signing the Palestinian factions said in a joint statement that they agreed to “reach comprehensive Palestinian national unity…’’
The most apparent motives behind this killing are: to sabotage the Doha peace talks; to create a leadership crisis in Hamas; and to weaken the impact of China‘s peace efforts vis-à-vis the Palestinian unity. The Bibi and his rightwing government —that most likely ends all attempts at negotiated settlements with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran—seem to escalate and push the Middle East to a region-wide conflict only confirms that Israel will do what will serve its Zionist project of domination at the expense of all the peoples of the region.
As far as the post Haniyah Mideast scenario is concerned, it goes without saying the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran has left a significant impact on the geopolitical landscape in the region. Yet it ponders some fundamental questions: (i). how will Hamas fill the leadership vacuum after Hanyah? (ii). Will the Palestinian unity survive? How will Iran retaliate to the Haniyah’s killing? (iii). What will be role of other Arab states to counter the current crisis? (iv). Will Washington and its western allies will deescalate the situation?
Netanyahu’s fascist-cum-annexiosit policy aims at containing the Lebanese front with Hezbollah; destroying Hamas’s military capabilities; and degrading its potential to govern in Gaza or elsewhere. Clearly, reflected by the devious Israeli policies– including targeted assassinations of Hezbollah’s Fuad Shuker and Hamas’ Ismail Haniyah—that all appreciates to be unforeseeable– that Netanyahu could ever achieve his ulterior objectives.
Analysts speculate that the current Mideast situation may lead to shifts in alliances and power dynamics, as well as influence the peace process in the region. The crucial consequences will depend on how the US and its western allies pressurize Israel to abandon its Gaza war .Make no mistake, search for a de-escalation of the situation via collective peace diplomacy –accompanied by a viable Palestine-Israel resolution is the only viable key to handle the current and future Mideast crisis.
—The writer, an independent ‘IR’ researcher-cum-international law analyst based in Pakistan, is member of European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on IR, Critical Peace & Conflict Studies, also a member of Washington Foreign Law Society and European Society of International Law. He deals with the strategic and nuclear issues.
