The search for a solution to the Palestinian question has been complicated by regional Arab rivalries ever since the genesis of the crisis during the British mandate over the country. This inter-Arab complication took a new turn when British rule was about to end in 1948 and the United Nations stepped in and adopted a series of non-binding UN General Assembly resolutions calling inter alia for the partition of the country into two states, one Arab and the other Jewish. Since then, the major international powers, especially those occupying permanent seats at the UN Security Council, competed with each other through the United Nations to exert influence on the issue to further their own economic and geopolitical interests in the Middle East. This regional and international state of affairs stayed almost static until the Cold War ended in 1990 and the communist order in the former Soviet Union and its satellite countries in East Europe suddenly collapsed.
The end of the former Soviet empire coincided of course with the forced withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan where it was dealt a devastating military defeat at the hands of relatively few Afghani insurgents supported by Arab and Muslim fighters from the Middle East and beyond. We all know by now that the defeat of the Soviet army at the hands of Afghani Islamists was made possible by both direct American military assistance and Saudi financial, political and military support.
It was in Afghanistan that Osama bin Laden founded his now infamous Al-Qaeda organization, ostensibly to drive out the communists from Afghanistan and weaken the Soviet empire by literally bleeding it to death on Afghan soil. Indeed, Washington marveled at the idea of having the mighty Soviet Union mauled by a "primitive militant" force.
Ever since that defeat of the Soviet Union both in Afghanistan and by dint of US military spending, the Palestinian case has taken a turn for the unknown. The change for the Palestinians was due in part at least to the added complications stemming from the injection of additional players into the Palestinian theater and other regional fronts in the Middle East.
Al-Qaeda has been busy extending its clout and presence throughout the Middle East, including on the Palestinian scene. Striking the deathblow to the Soviet army in Afghanistan was a huge victory for Bin Laden and his supporters and not just in military terms. It gave Al-Qaeda the strength and conviction that the same tactic could be applied to the US and Israel. It is indeed ironic, as has often been noted, that Bin Laden's victory over Moscow was aided and abetted by Washington. Supporters of Bin Laden's stream of Islamism and the US armed forces now face each other in Iraq in a much more even fight than it should be on paper.
Although there is no direct link between Al-Qaeda and Hamas, there is little doubt that the hard-line stance of Al-Qaeda with regard to Israel and its principal ally Washington has succeeded in fueling similar postures within Palestinian ranks. The Palestinians have over the past decades become gradually more self-confident, resilient and assertive when it comes to their national rights and aspirations and this is partly due to the successes achieved by small militant Islamic forces around the world. Palestinians have crossed the threshold of fear that had paralyzed them into submission throughout the three decades before and after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The increased self-confidence that Palestinians have in their ability to force Israel to withdraw from all the Occupied Territories coincided with the rise of Islamic "power" in Afghanistan and its spread to other countries in the region. No doubt the Palestinians drew comfort from the ability of hitherto unknown militant Islamist factions to become a "power" that many countries, including the world's remaining superpower, now fear. This growing article of faith in the ability of small militant Islamist groups to wage wars against mighty nations and win, as indeed had happened in Afghanistan and is happening in Iraq, has instilled a conviction among Palestinians that they too can become a "force" to be reckoned with and therefore succeed in extracting from Israel major territorial concessions sooner rather than later.
No wonder Hamas in particular seeks to drive a hard bargain with Israel and covets the liberation of the entire territory of former Palestine.
Hamas and its supporters believe that history is on their side and that as long as they stand steadfast they will surely recreate a new Palestine on all the territory of former Mandatory Palestine. What we are witnessing therefore is a dramatic metamorphosis in the national Palestinian psyche triggered by a cycle of events and developments that started right in the heartland of Afghanistan.
Published in Lebanon's THE DAILY STAR on August 20, 2007. Waleed Sadi is a former Jordanian ambassador to Turkey and to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. This commentary first appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an online newsletter..
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