By Abdullah Alkabir, Libyan political writer and commentator

Normalizing relations with Arab countries is a strategic goal for all successive occupation governments, since the establishment of the Zionist entity in occupied Palestine. One of their most important political victories was the conclusion of the peace agreement with Egypt, following the Camp David negotiations, to begin a new chapter in the Arab-Zionist conflict, by neutralizing the major state in the Arab region, the spearhead of all Arab wars with the occupying entity. Successive agreements were subsequently made with the PLO and Jordan, while all Western mediations failed to drag Syria and Lebanon into the track of normalization to end the state of conflict, and therefore state of war remained in place.

During the past years, the occupying entity succeeded in normalizing relations with the Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, and took advanced steps on the path to normalization with Saudi Arabia, as only some minor details remained, for the path to be finalized with an exchange of ambassadors.

The current Zionist government, described as the most extremist in the history of the entity, has placed at the top of its list of goals for full normalization with more Arab countries.
Despite this breakthrough by the occupier through full normalization with some Arab countries, and continuing this approach to bring more Arab countries, to the point that the Netanyahu government is marketing it to the settlers as an achievement that cost nothing, after dropping the principle that some Arab governments had previously touted, land for peace, that is, concluding peace agreements with the occupier, in exchange for complete restoration of territories occupied in June 1967, and the establishment of a Palestinian state on such territories.

The current occupation government offered an alternative, which is peace in exchange for peace, so the occupier gets what it wants without giving up anything.
The efforts of the occupation government in the course of normalization, despite the growing popular rejection in all past years and decades, prompted me to wonder. What is the point of normalization with the ruling authorities, regardless of their name and type of regime, if the position of the people is mostly consistent, the state of rejection of the occupation remains and has not changed, and the belief that Palestine from the river to the sea is Arab and not Zionist has not budged, so is it really useful to establish relations with governments despite such rejection? Won't these agreements fall in the future, with this firm popular position?

I did not find any convincing answer other than the bet of the occupation government, and behind it Western powers, on tightening control over the people through these governments, and preventing them from controlling their national decisions through democratically elected governments that reflect and embody in word and deed the national will and popular positions on all local, regional and international issues, foremost is the Palestinian cause.

The unelected authorities in most Arab countries will receive American support, and Western support in general, by normalizing relations with the occupying entity, thus gaining the satisfaction of Western countries, which will turn a blind eye to the corruption of these governments and their violations of human rights.

In light of the American withdrawal from the Middle East, to devote itself to and mobilization for an inevitable coming confrontation with China, the US strategy for the region becomes clear, to fill any vacuum left by its withdrawal, so that China expands into it, as a rising power qualified to play the role of the superpower, by strengthening the alliances between the occupying entity and the normalizing countries, to assume leadership of the region, keeping it an American zone of influence, and given the entity’s military and technological superiority, as well as its democratic system of government, the actual leadership will be purely its own, and the rest of the Arab countries will be proxies.

However, the October 7th attack destroyed this strategy, stopped the train of normalization, and brought the Palestinian cause back to the forefront globally. For the path of liberation to be completed, not only for Palestine, but for all the peoples of the region, and to end Western hegemony, the cause of Gaza must be championed, and Gaza must emerge victorious.

 

Disclaimer:  The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Libya Observer