The Middle East’s current conflict started about a year ago when Hamas attacked it on October 7, 2023, and Israel attacked Gaza in response.
However, according to many researchers, authorities on foreign policy, and international observers, the current situation is also the most recent instance of the decades-long issue known as the” Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The experience of the past 11 times has led many , authorities on the location,  , like myself, to review that word. Is” Arab-Israeli issue” an appropriate reflection, given that the active members are no longer only Arabs and Israelis?
If we end the phrase for great now that the conflict has grown and is expected to draw in the United States, Iran, and possibly Turkey and other countries in the near future?
How it all began
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the Arab-Israeli fight broke out. In the territories that are now Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, which were then under British rule, occasional disputes over property ownership fueled violence between the Israeli and Palestinian Muslim communities.
When Israel declared independence in 1948, the issue expanded into an federal conflict between Israel and many Arab nations – Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. The media and political leaders at the time coined the term” Arab-Israeli War.”
The conflict remained geopolitically and regionally restricted to the Muslim countries and Israel, so this name remained appropriate for a number of decades.
The unresolved issue sparked a number of additional wars between Israel and the Muslim world after the first combat in 1948. Some oil-exporting Egyptian nations, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, implicitly participated by funding the region’s front-line Arab state and imposing fuel sanctions on the West during the war of 1967 and 1973.
Israel’s destruction of its nuclear features in the 1980s straight affected Iraq, which was also directly related to this protracted conflict. Subsequently, Iraq targeted Israel with weapons many times in 1991 during the first Gulf War.
Going beyond the Muslim earth
The phrase” Arab-Israeli conflict” is n’t heard as much these days, but it’s still commonly in use, including by the United Nations, the United States government, media outlets and many scholars of the region.
However, research to” Arab-Israeli issue” obscures the active part of several other individuals, particularly in recent decades.
President Harry Truman’s choice to be the first to recognize the new position in May 1948 began the US political support for Israel. During Lyndon Johnson’s administration, there was an increase in US military and financial support in the 1960s.
At the request of President Richard Nixon, Israel also made significant US hands payments to Israel in September 1970, when the country mobilized its troops to rescue King Hussein of Jordan from a Palestinian rebellion aided by Arab forces.
However, the US’s part in air protection operations against missile and drone strikes on Israel has expanded over the years. The US Army air defense products, for instance, were used to protect Israel against Iraq’s submarine missile strikes as early as the 1990-91 Gulf War.
This US involvement has been in data since the October 7 problems, too. In the weeks following the attacks, US businesses have been carried out against missile and drone strikes by the Houthis in Yemen and Iran against Israel.
By all accounts, the US military aid for Israel has played a vital role in Israel’s military dominance over its companions. Thus, an appropriate title for the broader discord, I may argue, should reflect this energetic US participation.
On the” Muslim” side of the conflict, also, the enemies of Israel are no longer limited to Arab countries. Tehran is now a key player in the ongoing Gaza War. It not only provides military aid to groups hostile to Israel, including Hamas, Houthis, and Hezbollah, but it also has had strong military ties with Israel.
Additionally, for the past 15 years, Iran and Israel have engaged in secret functions and cyberwars against one another, which have only grown worse since the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Risk of Greek presence?
And with no resolution to the current fighting in sight, the chances of widening the conflict further should n’t be dismissed. A significant escalation between Israel and Iran and Turkey’s active participation are two potential scenarios that could increase this issue.
Conflicts between Israel and Turkey have gotten worse as a result of Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza and the higher casualties that resulted. Recep Tayyip Erdogan and prominent members of the Greek political events have been very vocal critics of Israel’s defense activities.
Public outcry and anti-Israeli sentiments in Turkey have risen to new highs, partially as a result of the media’s coverage of the massacre and people suffering in Gaza.
Even the slightest hint could be the result of a military conflict between Turkey and Israel, such as an encounter between the Jewish army and a Turkish fleet sailing toward Gaza to challenge Israel’s naval blockade.
A military escalation between Israel and Turkey could also be triggered by a significant Jewish activity in Lebanon, according to some researchers, though the likelihood of such an exchange is unproven.
The’ MENA-ISRAME turmoil’?
It is obvious that the term” Arab-Israeli issue” no longer accurately captures the realities of the Middle East nearly a year into the most recent stage of fighting. But” Israeli-Palestinian” or” Gaza-Israeli” fail to take into account the growing number of countries that have a stake – or an active role – in the fighting.
However, in the course of the latest Gaza fight, people have been killed in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran. Also, the list of combatants includes Hamas and Israel, but likewise a plethora of Iran-backed armies across the Middle East and the Egyptian Peninsula.
So where does that leave us then? A more precise description of the ongoing conflicts needs to include all of the key players.
On the one hand, there are a number of nonstate actors and organizations operating in the Middle East and North Africa, or” MENA,” as the region is known. On the other hand, we have a nation that is heavily dependent on Israel for its martial skill and security, and a United States that is totally committed to the safety of Israel. I think any title for the conflict may recognize US involvement.
So, in my opinion, it is better to call this the” MENA-ISRAME conflict” – in which” ISRAME” is constructed by combining the first three letters of” Israel” and” America”.
I acknowledge that it is a little bit and unlikely to get any attention. However, it is still necessary to have a brand that reflects the larger group of parties to the Arab-Israeli fight. It does raise more people’s awareness of the struggling, destruction, and economic burden that it has caused to all the participating nations over the course of its lifetime.
By doing so, it may encourage the international community, particularly the active individuals, to work harder to find a solution that can put an end to the MENA-ISRAME issue.
Nader Habibi is a Middle Eastern-focused professor of exercise at Brandeis University.
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