Media coverage
Quds Net · 2019-09-19
PalThink for Strategic Studies organized a dialogue session via Skype with writer and political analyst Dr. Oraib Al-Rantawi on the Palestinian situation and the region, in the presence of writers, researchers, academics, businesspeople, and representatives of Palestinian factions. Al-Rantawi reviewed regional transformations since 1979, the repositioning of Arab and regional axes, and their impact on the Palestinian cause, stressing that Palestinian division has harmed the cause and calling for a renewed definition of the national project and the rejuvenation of Palestinian frameworks and leadership.
PalThink for Strategic Studies organized a dialogue session via Skype with writer and political analyst Dr. Oraib Al-Rantawi on the Palestinian situation and the region, in the presence of writers, researchers, academics, businesspeople, and representatives of Palestinian factions. Al-Rantawi revie…
In line with PalThink for Strategic Studies’ philosophy of deepening discussion and constructive thought and raising issues of concern to Palestinian affairs at the regional and international levels, PalThink for Strategic Studies organized a dialogue meeting on the Palestinian situation and the region. Via Skype from Jordan, it hosted writer and political analyst Dr. Oreib al-Rantawi, Director of Al-Quds Center for Studies, in the presence of a group of writers, researchers, academics, businessmen, and representatives of Palestinian factions.
Mr. Omar Shaban, Director of PalThink for Strategic Studies, opened the session by welcoming the attendees and thanking them for their valuable and enriching participation in the discussion. He also introduced Dr. Oreib and thanked him for his research paper, which he reviewed and discussed during the meeting.
Al-Rantawi began by saying that 1979 was a pivotal year that shaped the features and axes of the region. That year witnessed Egypt, the largest Arab power, exiting the Arab-Israeli conflict through the signing of the Camp David Accords, and the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the isolation of the Shah, an ally of Israel and the United States, making Iran a regional player whose rise reshaped regional alignments. That year also witnessed the emergence of what is known as Salafi-jihadism and its active role in the region, beginning with rapprochement with the United States and the emergence of Afghan Salafi-jihadism, and its exploitation to confront the Shiites after the victory of the revolution in Iran. That year also saw the military coup in Pakistan, the rise of symbols of Salafi-jihadism there, and an increase in the level of confrontation with India.
Al-Rantawi also reviewed the developments that followed that year, including the Iran-Iraq War and the positioning of Iraq to confront Iran. He also addressed King Fahd’s peace initiative, which the Palestinians rejected, after which, a year later, came the war to destroy Beirut and expel the Palestine Liberation Organization, before the initiative was presented again at the Fez Summit in 1982.
Al-Rantawi also addressed the peak of the rise of Salafism and terrorism in the events of September 11, 2001, in which most of the accused were Saudi citizens. Anti-terrorism and anti-Muslim rhetoric also escalated. This phase also witnessed the presentation of the Arab Peace Initiative at the 2002 Beirut Summit, and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud’s insistence on adding the refugee clause to the initiative because of the depth of their cause and its impact on the Lebanese arena.
This period also saw Afghanistan and Iraq presented as an unexpected gift to Iran after their invasion by the United States, so that Iraq shifted from a dam against Iran to a bridge for Iran. This phase also began to witness a policy of disposing of Salafi-jihadism, which was hostile to traditional Islamic groups and the Shiites, in favor of Iran.
All these developments affected the Palestine issue, as that period witnessed Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian general elections, and the reintroduction of the theory of the Shiite crescent and the Iranian rebellion, as well as the rehabilitation of Salafi-jihadism to confront the Shiites.
Al-Rantawi also reviewed the developments of the Arab Spring in 2010, as the states of moderation viewed the Arab Spring as a danger and the counter-revolution began. The Iran axis saw the Arab Spring as a victory until it reached Syria, at which point it turned into a conspiracy in the view of this axis.
Al-Rantawi believes that this period witnessed a repositioning of the axes, which he divided into four axes:
1- The Gulf axis, which sees Iran as a major danger, leading to Gulf-Israeli rapprochement and American cooperation. Naturally, the price of this rapprochement and cooperation will be paid from the Palestinians’ pocket; indeed, the Deal of the Century was cooked up in some Gulf capitals. This axis maintains lukewarm relations with the Palestinian Authority, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, and is hostile to the current of political Islam and Hamas.
2- The Jordanian-Egyptian axis, which is counted among the states of Arab moderation and has peace relations with Israel, and it knows that at some moment it will pay the price of the Deal of the Century, especially Jordan. It has excellent relations with the Palestinian Authority and a relationship of necessity and fait accompli with Hamas.
3- The Qatari-Turkish axis, which has advanced relations with Israel and with political Islam. It also has medical relations with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas and has taken upon itself the task of politically rehabilitating Hamas.
4- The axis of resistance and steadfastness. This axis does not adopt ideas regarding the Palestinian state. Its relations with the Palestinian Authority are lukewarm, and with Hamas they are volatile, as Hamas betrayed this axis with its position on Syria. Iran is now making attempts to restore relations between Hamas and the Syrian regime.
Al-Rantawi believes that these axes are not fixed and are subject to political changes and shifts in positions. He mentioned that the growing influence of regional powers such as Turkey, Iran, Qatar, and others is the result of the gradual withdrawal of major powers such as the United States from the Middle East. He believes that the Palestinian division has harmed the Palestinian cause when Palestinian forces began to enlist these axes against one another at home and abroad.
It falls upon the Palestinians to determine how to benefit from an expected disintegration of these axes, and how they can be employed without positioning themselves within them, in the service of the Palestinian cause, especially in light of the weakening of the Saudi-Emirati axis after becoming embroiled in the Yemen war, and the return of Qatari-Iranian and Turkish-Iranian relations, together with the return of the Arab Spring wave in Sudan and Algeria and the possibility of a third wave of the Arab Spring erupting in some Arab countries. Al-Rantawi sees the possibility of the emergence of new influential powers in the region that should be monitored and with which positive relations should be built in order to strengthen the Palestinian position in the international arena, especially at the United Nations, where the State of Palestine has begun to lose many of its supporters in South America and Africa. He mentioned Ethiopia as one of these rising powers.
Al-Rantawi believes that no one has a conception for the predicament of Palestinian division, and he sees that the Palestinian condition has entered a stage of political drift among the elites and public opinion. What is required is a renewed agreement on the definition of the national project and the identification of its appropriate tools, as well as the need to rejuvenate the Palestinian frameworks and to search anew for formulas for the internal Palestinian relationship in light of the failure to end the division. There is also a need to open up to the Arab peoples, a card that Palestine lost when it dealt with itself as though it were a state facing another state, rather than a national liberation movement seeking to obtain a state.
The meeting concluded with a round of interventions and questions from the attendees, most notably Al-Rantawi’s emphasis on the need to renew the aging leaderships to represent the “young” Palestinian people, full of youthful competencies, in response to a question from one of the attendees about the practical steps that could be adopted to improve reality. Al-Rantawi also answered another question, saying that he had spoken of the Arab image as though it had a negative role and were “acted upon,” by noting that Arab states react to the reality imposed upon them and to the changes occurring in their surroundings without bringing about effective change stemming from an Arab will. He stressed the need to enter a different phase in which the Arabs take the position of the “actor,” not the “acted upon.” The discussion round was followed by thanks to the attendees for their listening and participation, and thanks to Dr. Oreib al-Rantawi for his rich and influential discussion.
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