DON'T BLINK. THE MIDDLE EAST IS CHANGING SO FAST

The long-running Israel-Palestinian question is central to the stability in the region.

- JOHN DOBSON

LONDON 66 year ago, I an“A nounced something simple," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. "We would change the face of the Middle East, and we are indeed doing so. Syria is not the same Syria. Lebanon is not the same Lebanon. Gaza is not the same Gaza. And the head of the axis, Iran, is not the same Iran; it has also felt the might of our arm." No one would argue with Netanyahu that a major realignment in the Middle East is certainly taking place, but Israel is not the only player in the multiple conflicts that have happened, and are still happening three decades since the end of the Cold War.

The War on Terror, the debacle of Iraq and Afghanistan, the rise of movements such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, the Arab Spring, and the collapse of old state structures have all played their part in the realignment.

Only a few years ago, Israel and Iran appeared to be maintaining a long-term and seemingly stable balance of power and deterrence. The dramatic events on 7 October last year changed all that. Iranianbacked Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated attacks on Southern Israel, slaughtering some 1,200 innocent citizens and taking 250 hostages.

The attack traumatised the nation, shattering deeprooted societal beliefs and jeopardising the sense of security. Hamas officials claimed that the attack was a response to the Israeli occupation of their land, blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, restriction on the movement of Palestinians, and imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians whom Hamas sought to release by taking Israeli hostages. Reacting to their worst failure of intelligence since the founding of the state, Israeli retaliation has led to the bloodiest war in Gaza's history, and the deadliest year for Palestinians since the Nakba in 1948, with more than 45,000 killed and 106,000 wounded.