The war in Gaza is a test of Israel's military resolve, which directly affects the survival of the regimes in Jordan and other Arab countries, which see Israel as a life insurance policy in their fight against Iran and Islamic terrorism.
The war in Gaza also highlights the limited impact of the Palestinian issue on the upheavals of the Middle East, and the gap between the West's and Arab countries' approach to this issue.
Contrary to Western insight, Arab leaders do not see the Palestinian cause as the apple of their political eye or as the root of the regional turmoil and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Contrary to US policy – since President Obama's speech in Cairo in 2009 Who encouraged the "Muslim Brotherhood" and stabbed President Mubarak in the back - Sisi outlawed the "Brotherhood", the guardian of Hamas, declared them a terrorist organization and sentenced their leaders to death.
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The Arab world does not exert political, financial, or military muscle on behalf of Hamas, nor did it exert it on behalf of Mahmoud Abbas, when Israel took over large parts of Judea and Samaria in pursuit of the murderers of the three yeshiva students. This is how the Arab world acted in Israel's wars against Hamas in 2009 and 2012, in the 2004-2000 war against the "Second Intifada", in the 1991-1987 war against the "First Intifada", and in the 1982-1983 war against the PLO in Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates provide $20 billion to Egypt; in 2006-2007, it provided $2.5 billion to Lebanon; and in 1980-1988, it provided $1 billion in annual aid to the Muslim rebels in Afghanistan, compared to $100 million to the PLO. Since 1994, Saudi Arabia has provided the Palestinian Authority with about $1.5 billion, reflecting the relatively low weight of the Palestinian cause in the Saudi order of priorities. Saudi Arabia neither forgets nor forgives the PLO's participation in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, which threatened to overthrow the Saudi regime. The Arabs remember the subversive background of Arafat and Abbas in Egypt (1950s), Syria (1966), Jordan (1970), Lebanon (1970-1982), and Kuwait (1990).
The Arab League is mired in the consequences of the "Arab tsunami" sweeping the Arab countries - with no connection to the Palestinian issue - and continues its traditional approach to the Palestinians: lavishing words, but not resources. For example, in 1948, the Arab League established the All-Palestine Government as an Egyptian ghost, which was reduced to a department in the Arab League in 1952, and was deleted from the Arab League in 1959 by Egyptian President Nasser. The Arab countries did not fight Israel because of the Palestinians, did not share the spoils of war with them (Hama in the Golan, Samaria, Jerusalem and Judea), and did not want to establish a Palestinian state.
Sisi's attitude towards the Palestinians is similar to that of President Sadat, who opposed President Carter's intention to make the Palestinian issue the focus of the peace process with Israel, and President Mubarak, who publicly scolded Arafat: "Shut up, you dog." In the past year, the Egyptian army has killed dozens of Palestinian terrorists in Sinai, just as it killed Palestinian protesters in Rafah after the "disengagement." Sisi is also aware of Arafat and Abbas' involvement in the subversion and terrorism of the "Muslim Brotherhood" who attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Nasser in 1954. Abbas and Arafat were forced to flee Egypt.
A realistic assessment of the Palestinian cause is essential for shaping realistic policies, advancing the peace process, and for the survival of moderate Arab regimes, who fear that Israel's failure to destroy Hamas's fire infrastructure will fuel the deadly fire in their countries.
• Ambassador (Retd.) Yoram Ettinger, "On Second Thought: Israel-US Initiative," "First Class News.".
