Countries that have straddled the fence for decades concerning the Palestinians and Israel are now supporting the former. From Abdul Rahman at scheerpost.com:
A large number of Arab and other West Asian countries have defied the US pressures and openly taken a stand against the Israeli war in Gaza for the first time in decades
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney meets with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at Prime Ministry Residence, Ankara, Turkey. Photo from Wikimedia Commons by David Bohrer on 24 March 2008.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the 16th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on November 9. Rapproachment among once rival powers in the region, over Gaza, marks a changing dynamic in defiance of US designs. (Photo: Andalou Agency)
The responses to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza from some of the West Asian countries have set an interesting pattern. These responses defy a decades long trend of muted opposition and behind the curtain compromises. More importantly, this is yet another indication of growing assertion and independence of these countries from US hegemony.
Since the 1980s, the US was able to use its military and economic power to create a complete hegemony over the ruling classes in the West Asian region. The countries which maintained their independence were exceptions, such as Syria and Iran.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was forced to seek a compromise with the occupation, after governments in the region threatened to withdraw their support, under clear US pressure. In this sense, the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993 and in 1995 is seen as a part of the US scheme for the region.
The absence of any strong opposition to Israel’s repeated wars and large scale human rights violations in Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories in the intervening period can be explained in the context of that US hegemony.
