The current phase of fighting in the Middle East began almost a 12 months ago, on October 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack and a subsequent massive Israeli attack on Gaza. But so as to many scientists, foreign policy experts AND international observersWhat is going on can be the latest episode in a conflict that has been happening for many years. commonly referred to as “Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The experiences of the last 11 months have led many experts in the region I would love to reassess the term. Is “Arab-Israeli conflict” an accurate reflection, on condition that the energetic participants aren’t any longer just Arabs and Israelis? Should we abandon the term for good now that the conflict has expanded to include the United States and Iran—and potentially Turkey and others in the years to come?
How it began
The Arab-Israeli conflict began after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 in what’s now Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, which were then Mandate of Palestine under British ruleOccasional disputes over land ownership have led to violence between the Jewish and Palestinian communities.
When Israel declared independence in 1948the conflict became an interstate war between Israel and a number of other Arab countries – Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Hence it was called Arab-Israeli War each by the media and the political leaders of the time.
This name remained relevant for several many years, as the geopolitical and geographical conflict was limited to the Arab countries and Israel.
After the initial War 1948unresolved conflict led to several other wars between Israel and the Arab countries. Some oil-exporting Arab countries, comparable to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, also got involved not directly by providing financial support to the Arab states on the front lines and oil embargoes were announced against the West during the wars of 1967 and 1973.
Iraq was also directly affected by this protracted conflict in the Eighties when Israel destroyed its nuclear facilities. Iraq then repeatedly attacked Israel with missiles in 1991 during The First Gulf War.
Beyond the Arab World
The term “Arab-Israeli conflict” is just not used as often today, but it surely continues to be widely used, including by United Nationsthis United States Government, media points and lots of scholars from this region.
The use of the term “Arab-Israeli conflict” has declined lately
However, the reference to the “Arab-Israeli conflict” obscures the energetic role of several other participants, especially in recent many years.
American diplomatic support for Israel began with President Harry Truman’s decision to be the first to recognize the recent state in May 1948. In the Sixties, one other decision followed: increase in US military and financial support during Lyndon Johnson’s presidency.
There have also been significant arms transfers from the United States to Israel occurred in September 1970, when at President Richard Nixon’s RequestIsrael he mobilized his forces to save King Hussein of Jordan with the Palestinian rebellion supported by Syrian forces.
In subsequent many years, nevertheless, the U.S. role expanded to include direct involvement in air defense operations against missile and drone attacks on Israel. For example, U.S. Army air defense units were used to defend Israel against Iraqi Rocket Attacks already in the Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991.
The US involvement has been visible since the October 7 attacks. In the months following the attacks, the US conducted operations against missile and drone attacks launched at Israel by Houthis in Yemen and thru Iran.
By all accounts, US military support for Israel played a key role in its Military advantage over its neighbors. Therefore, for my part, an appropriate name for the broader conflict should reflect this energetic U.S. participation.
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On the “Arab” side of the conflict, Israel’s opponents aren’t any longer limited to Arab countries. Iran is now energetic participantTehran not only provides military support to groups hostile to Israel, including Hamas, the Houthis, and Hezbollah, but has also engaged in direct military operations with Israel during the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
In addition, Iran and Israel were involved in covert operations and cyber wars between them which have been happening for 15 years, which have intensified much more after the war between Israel and Hamas.
Risk of Turkish involvement?
And with no resolution to the current fighting in sight, the possibilities of the conflict escalating further shouldn’t be underestimated. Two possible scenarios that would escalate the conflict are a significant escalation between Israel and Iran, and energetic participation of Turkey.
Intense Israeli bombardment of Gaza and resulting high variety of casualties escalated tensions between Israel and Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and politicians from various Turkish political parties they were very loud in his criticism of Israeli military actions.
Public anger and anti-Israeli sentiment in Turkey have reached a high level, partly in consequence of the extensive coverage of the carnage and human suffering in Gaza. There is even a small possibility that unexpected eventcomparable to an Israeli navy encounter with a Turkish ship approaching Gaza to defy the Israeli naval blockade, could lead on to a military exchange between Turkey and Israel. While the likelihood of such an exchange stays low, a military escalation between Israel and Turkey may also be triggered according to some experts, in consequence of a significant Israeli operation in Lebanon.
MENA-ISRAM conflict?
Almost a 12 months into the latest phase of fighting in the Middle East, it has develop into clear that the label “Arab-Israeli conflict” now not reflects the facts on the ground. But “Israeli-Palestinian” or “Gaza-Israeli” fail to account for the growing number of nations which are collaborating—or an energetic role—in the fighting.
Indeed, during the current conflict in Gaza, people were killed in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and IranSimilarly, the list of parties to the conflict includes Hamas and Israel, but in addition a number of Iranian-backed militias in the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula.
So where does this leave us?
A more accurate name for the ongoing hostilities can be to higher reflect all the major participants.
On one side, now we have several non-state actors and governments from across the Middle East and North Africa, or “MENA,” as the region is often called. On the other side, now we have Israel, which is heavily depending on the United States for its military prowess and protection, and the United States, which is fully committed to Israel’s security. I imagine that any name for the conflict should include the United States.
Therefore, for my part, it is best to call it the “MENA-ISRAME conflict” – during which “ISRAME” is formed by combining the first three letters of the words “Israel” and “America”.
I admit it’s kind of hard to pronounce and unlikely to catch on. Nevertheless, a reputation that reflects the larger group of participants in the Arab-Israeli conflict is required. It will raise awareness of the destruction, suffering and financial burden it has caused to all the countries involved throughout its existence.
This can increase the willingness of the international community, and particularly its energetic participants, to make greater efforts to find an answer that can put an end to the MENA-ISRAM conflict.