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Opinion
Why global activism for Palestinians will reverberate beyond Gaza conflict
- After years of Arab countries growing closer to Israel, the events of October 7 have swung the pendulum the other way
- Mass pro-Palestinian protests, calls to boycott companies over their ties to Israel, and more, are generating political shifts in Arab countries and the West
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Mohammed Sinan Siyech completed his doctoral degree from the Islamic and Middle East Studies Department at the University of Edinburgh and is a non-resident associate fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.
The 2020s began with dismal news for Palestinians, who saw official state support for their cause in the Arab and Muslim world dwindle significantly. Gone were the days when Arab heads of state centred much of their foreign policy around Palestine’s liberation from occupation by Israel.
In fact, the situation was going in the opposite direction. The Abraham Accords had Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan recognising Israel fully and engaging with it diplomatically. By the middle of this year, many analysts were suggesting that Saudi Arabia could normalise ties with Israel as well, which would be a particularly damning loss for the Palestinian cause given Riyadh’s sizeable influence in the Islamic world.
Yet the October 7 attack by Hamas against Israeli targets and the disproportionate response has changed the regional and global dynamics. Israel launched several campaigns against Palestinians, killing vast numbers of innocent civilians, including children. In response, there were protests around the world by both Muslims and non-Muslims who were shocked by the brutality of Israel’s campaign against Hamas and its refusal to respect international law.
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