Why did this dangerous round in the Arab-Israeli conflict begin, and what are the expected scenarios for its end?
At dawn on October 7, 2013, Hamas launched extensive air, land, and sea attacks on the Israeli settlements near Gaza. The HAMAS movement is unique in its kind, as it was able, in just a few hours, to control or inflict severe damage on 9 settlements and, this surprise military attack has stunned Israeli and US intelligence services. The Hamas attack even has affected cities deep inside Israel, including Tel Aviv, where it was bombed with 150 missiles. Israel suffered hundreds of deaths and injuries, dozens of its soldiers and senior officers were captured or were dead.
In short, this war has cost Israel more damage than what Arab regimes had managed to inflict on Israel in the past five Israeli-Arab wars. Besides this has so far delivered mortal blows to the morale of the Israeli army and the morale of the settlers.
Why did this round of war start?
1-The continued marginalization of the Palestinians and the failure of the two-state project brought about by the 1992 Oslo Accords.
2-Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government continues to build settlements on Palestinian lands
3-The economic blockade on Gaza continues in front of the eyes and ears of the international community
4-The Israeli right provokes the feelings of the Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Mosque
5-The rush of normalization efforts by Arab regimes with Israel behind the backs of the Palestinians.
5-Iran’s desire to exploit this bad Palestinian situation and take advantage of the new situation thereby exerting pressure on Hamas and the Jihad movement to begin a war war by achieving an Iranian political goal to ease the political and economic siege on it and the undeclared war on the Syrian regime by Israel. Note that only in few days ago a camp for Bashar al-Assad’s army was bombed and dozens of Iranians and Syrians were killed, and Iran declared that this would not go unpunished.
What are the expected endings of the current war:
1- Israel and its massive destructive weapons will commit major bloody massacres in Gaza and the West Bank in the coming days, and this will prompt Arab and Islamic countries to move diplomatically and put pressure on the Biden administration to stop the massacres. Egypt, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar will be at the forefront of the countries calling for stopping the battle through a formula that saves face for both parties.
2- If Israel launches a ground attack on Gaza, the so-called resistance states, led by Iran, will move to expand the battle by bringing Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, the Iraqi Mobilization Forces, and the Houthis into the battle against the Americans and the Western coalition. This will be a terrifying expansion of the war and will end in favor of Iran and isolate America and Israel from the Middle East.
3- Normalization processes between the Arab regimes and Israel will be frozen in the foreseeable future.
4- The fragile and weak government of Netanyahu will fall, and
there will be unrest in Israel due to his corruption and the catastrophic loss in the war. Note that the Biden administration is not comfortable with Netanyahu, and even a section of the Israeli-American lobby is not comfortable with him.
5- Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement will have the decisive say in Aden or peace with Israel.
6- Israel will enter stifling political, economic, and social crises, and the migration from Israel will increase.