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Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Major General Mohammad Pakpour: If the enemy makes a mistake, we will respond forcefully, just as we have over the past 12 days
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If it isn’t stopped, “Greater Israel” will become a reality

  • Robert Inlakesh Robert Inlakesh
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 15 Jan 2025 23:52
  • 1 Shares
9 Min Read

The Israeli regime is expanding its territorial control into neighboring Arab nations, exploiting regional weaknesses, demonstrating that only sustained resistance can counter its expansionist ambitions.

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  • If It Isn’t Stopped “Greater Israel” Will Become a Reality
    The official “Israelarabic” social media accounts belonging to the Zionist regime is openly publishing content that reflects its expansionist endeavors, one such post included a historical representation of “Judah and Israel” (Illustrated by Ali Al-Hadi Shmeis)

Emboldened by a string of achievements, the Israeli regime is seeking to expand its territorial control into neighboring Arab Nations and is receiving little push back. While Jordan and Egypt aren’t currently facing an armed incursion, Israeli ministers and official social media pages are indicating that such takeovers could be in the books.

Upon the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, the power vacuum left behind and a lack of any army to protect the nation permitted an immediate Israeli invasion. The Zionist Entity swiftly launched their largest ever air campaign to obliterate the Syrian Arab Army’s military equipment, then followed this up with on-and-off airstrikes throughout the country.

The Israelis have occupied the Golan Heights entirely, seized the six most important water sources in southern Syria, expelled citizens from their homes in areas surrounding Quneitra and even pushed towards Dara’a. The Israeli tanks are now positioned as far as areas like Qatana, only 20 kilometers from Damascus, while airstrikes occasionally hit targets in the Syrian Capital.

This invasion of Syria has been ongoing for over a month now and not a single bullet has been fired by forces affiliated with the new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led government. Instead, those installed in power in Damascus have hinted at normalization with the Zionist regime, with the newly selected Mayor of Damascus, Maher Marwan, openly making excuses for the Israeli invasion and suggesting normalizing ties. 

The takeaway from this is not to just single out the new Syrian leadership and its positions, but to demonstrate that weakness and collaboration with the Zionists, no matter who it is, results in territorial losses to the detriment of the population of any Arab nation.

In June of 1967, the reason why the Israelis decided to occupy the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, the Sinai and Golan Heights, was down to one factor, the ability for them to do so. A historic opportunity arose during that war. In 1973, the Presidents of Syria and Egypt at the time, Hafez al-Assad and Anwar Sadat, launched a joint operation to recapture their occupied territories, but ultimately came short. While Syria refused to normalize ties, Egypt exchanged normalization for massive US aid handouts and the return of the Sinai.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) attempted to fight the Israelis out of Beirut, but were ultimately forced to flee Lebanon in 1982 after the Zionist regime invaded and murdered around 20,000 Palestinians and Lebanese. The Israelis then placed southern Lebanon under their occupation.

A severely weakened PLO was isolated, then made the fatal mistake of taking positions that sided with former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, during his invasion of Kuwait. At this time, the PLO was desperately trying to lead to the Intifada that was ongoing inside the occupied West Bank and Gaza, that was originally led locally, but had now lost its Kuwaiti financial backers. The Zionists were facing a crisis due to the Palestinian Intifada, they were receiving blows on the public relations front, diverting a substantial amount of military resources to combating the uprising and it was extremely costly to their economy.

This led to the Oslo Accords of 1993-1995, which were supposed to lead to a so-called Two-State solution. Yet, the Zionists had committed to the deal with a weakened PLO and were not compelled to ever fulfill their commitments. When the “final status negotiations” fell apart, in 2000 the Second Intifada erupted, which eventually led to the gutting of the resistance in the occupied West Bank through “Operation Defensive Shield” in 2002. 

The US and their Israeli allies then pressured former Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat to restructure and reform his security forces, which was later fully implemented under PA President Mahmoud Abbas. These forces would run security coordination with the Israeli occupation army, ensuring that no armed resistance would arise in the West Bank. 

However, the more the PA listened to the demands of Washington and Tel Aviv, hoping that this would somehow lead to a “Two-State solution”, the more the Zionists pulled away from negotiations altogether and adopted an even more aggressive approach. We have now reached the point where the Israelis are openly seeking to annex the occupied West Bank, with little regard for what the Palestinian Authority seeks.

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The historical experience of Arab States and political parties in their interactions with the Israeli regime shows a clear trend that the only way a favorable outcome is achieved is through power and using leverage to achieve gains. Hezbollah proved this point in the year 2000, when it forced the Israelis to abandon their occupation of southern Lebanon, then again in 2006 they purged the occupation forces from their land.

It is important to note that Hezbollah in the early 2000’s was nowhere near the fighting force it is today, in terms of weaponry and manpower, even in the advent of the war in 2024. Yet, its determination and ability to inflict considerable losses on the Israeli invaders was enough for the Zionists to hold back from attacking Lebanon. 

This hesitancy to launch any kind of offensive against Lebanon was not because they believed that Hezbollah was stronger than them, as its late Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said, there is no parity between the Hezbollah and the Zionist regime militarily, but it is the resolve of the group, its deep doctrine and its determination to inflict deadly blows that caused the Israelis to pull back and dare not challenge them.

If we look at the example of Hamas and the other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza, they never had the ability to decisively defeat the Israeli military, but they possess the ability to resist. Even after 16 months of Israel’s full-scale invasion and genocide, the resistance remains and continues to inflict losses on the occupier. 

The current predicament inside Lebanon is one in which the Israelis are openly talking about remaining inside Lebanese territory following the 60-day ceasefire implementation period. It is not because Hezbollah is “too weak” as many have claimed. Rather, the Zionists’ willingness to remain there stems for their reading of the political reality as one that permits, at least for now. There is, however, a possibility that this withdrawal will come without re-erupting the war, but the likelihood of renewed hostilities remains extremely high. 

In Syria, there is simply no resistance at all. Therefore, the Zionists are fulfilling their true goals, as their soldiers on the ground record videos laughing at the new HTS leadership and mock them for how easy it has been to occupy the country’s south.

This predicament should serve as a warning to both Egypt and Jordan, which have normalized ties with the Zionist entity. At this time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes he is able to now pursue what he calls “total victory” and within the fold of this vision includes expansionism. The Zionist regime has never declared its borders, which is due to the fact that it has always sought to expand them.

The official “Israelarabic” social media accounts belonging to the Zionist regime is openly publishing content that reflects its expansionist endeavors, one such post included a historical representation of “Judah and Israel”. This drew criticism from Amman and Abu Dhabi, as it implied an Israeli claim to Jordanian, Lebanese and Syrian territory. What was missed, however, was that descriptions of the historic territory of “Judah” also suggest its expansion into what is today part of the Egyptian Sinai.

Throughout the existence of the Israeli regime, it has continuously used varying historical and religious claims to justify its occupation of different portions of territory belonging to a range of Arab Nations. There’s everything from the “Greater Israel” model that the likes of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and various other Zionist officials and movements, to debates over what territory should have been included within the British Mandate of Palestine.

“Greater Israel” uses Jewish religious justifications to argue that the Zionist regime should expand to operate between the River Nile and Euphrates. The latter was an argument was developed and propagated by the Zionist Federation of Britain during the 1950’s, attempting to lay claim to the Egyptian Sinai based upon a technicality that could have justified including it as part of Palestine up until 1948. Despite the fact that the British Mandate of Palestine had not included the Sinai, the Israelis pushed the idea that because it could have, based upon Türkiye’s legal claim to it in the 20’s, it could now be part of “Israel”.

The mental gymnastics employed by Israeli propagandists to justify every illegal occupation they operate is similar to the way they claim that pasta dishes, falafel, shawarma, tomatoes and burritos are Israeli. This is because they are a usurper entity, their justifications for whatever they choose to do are fluid, meaning for the sake of the topic of territorial expansion they will find a justification for any seizure of land. For example, seizing a strip of territory in the Sinai could be for “security reasons”, whereas the occupation of Jordanian land could be down to an interpretation of scripture.

If they believe they can get away with it, the Israelis will seize territory from Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and completely impose their occupation over all of historic Palestine. The only way of stopping this is through relentless resistance that comes from different fronts simultaneously, as no single front can decisively defeat them alone. Annexation of the West Bank will not please the Zionist regime, as it is in the process of redefining its vision, the aggression is going to spread and even if the regime’s surrounding it submit, they will all be consumed by it. 

 


 
 

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Syria
  • Palestine
  • Israel
  • Lebanon
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Robert Inlakesh

Robert Inlakesh

Political Analyst, Journalist, and Documentary Filmmaker.

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