The dramatic and swift fall of President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria has all but delinked Iran from its proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon, since Syria was Iran's conduit to Hezbollah. The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has all but delinked Hezbollah, weakened both militarily and politically in Lebanon, from a besieged war-ravaged Gaza. Iran's wings have been severely clipped and the so-called axis of resistance is disintegrating. The regional power equations have been redrawn. Hamas is on its last legs in Gaza.
With prospects for a Gaza ceasefire brightening, what Israel plans to do with its reassertion of regional dominance is crucial to the future of West Asia's peace and security. While their focus will now turn to effect regime change in Iran and how Gaza can be "secured" for Israel, Israeli activities in the occupied West Bank will be the litmus test for what is in store for the future of West Asia.
West Bank is the prize that Israel wants. Dominating Gaza is necessary to make sure that it stops being a launchpad to threaten Israeli security. But West Bank annexation is necessary to complete the dream of Eretz Israel. Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultra-right political partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, has already declared 2025 as the year of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria - the biblical name for West Bank, after ancient Israeli kingdoms.
Israel wants to annex it, in effect annexing occupied territory and erasing the 1967 borders. We have already seen that the "New Middle East" map presented to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (UNGA) by Netanyahu had no West Bank or Gaza. What was earlier Hamas's slogan - from the river to the sea - has now become Israel's rallying cry.
This story is from the December 19, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times Bengaluru.
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This story is from the December 19, 2024 edition of Hindustan Times Bengaluru.
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