Jakarta –
Amid the onslaught of hundreds of rockets and Israeli warplanes, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh sent a letter to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), Tuesday (18/5/2021). He asked Jokowi to mobilize Islamic state and international support for Palestine. Why did Hamas do this?
Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon Hajriyanto Y. Thohari said that since the last time Palestine has felt abandoned by Arab countries. Especially after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in 2020 signed the Abraham Agreement (Abraman Accord) to restore diplomatic relations with Israel.
According to Hajriyanto, there were three factors that made them shake hands with Israel. First, the influence of the United States (US) which dominates the Middle East region.
“The strength of US hegemony in the region makes Arab countries compete close to the US. Leaders in Arab countries will be considered great if they are able to enter the White House,” explained Hajriyanto who is also the author of the book Anthropology of the Arabs: Ethnographic Scribbles. from Beirut.
Second, Arab countries have experienced a shift in the definition of the threat from Israeli Zionism to Iran. The indications include Iran giving full support to the Hezbollah group in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Palestine.
“Iran is called by Arab countries a new threat. From a historical point of view, the Arab world or Middle East it was controlled alternately between Persia and Byzantium, “explained Hajriyanto.
It is on the basis of this shift in threats that Palestine is no longer at the heart of the foreign policy of Arab countries. They already have their respective national interests, not seeing the Palestinian issue as a top priority.
On the other hand, because the Palestinian – Israeli conflict has been going on for more than 70 years, it is only natural that they feel tired. Because the various efforts to make things happen between the two warring nations have never been successful.
The third is the economic factor, namely the existence of US aid worth tens of trillions of rupiahs to each country that wants to make peace with Israel. Hajriyanto gave an example of Egypt, which receives annual military assistance of Rp. 43 trillion, and Rp. 33 trillion for Jordan. For Sudan, the US wiped out all debt records and crossed it from the list of terrorist countries.
“America also guarantees the supply of water from the Nile River which is currently threatened by a blockade by Ethiopia through the largest dam in the world,” he explained.
(deg / jat)
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