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Gaza Looks Out Onto a Changing Middle East

undefined and Senior Middle East and North Africa Analyst at RANE

Ryan Bohl

Senior Middle East and North Africa Analyst at RANE, Stratfor

May 16, 2018 | 14:39 GMT

Palestinian protesters in Gaza look skyward as an Israeli drone shoots tear gas canisters toward them on May 15, 2018. Some states in the region, like Iran and Turkey, gain influence with each new Palestinian crisis, while others, like Saudi Arabia, seek to balance condemning Israeli actions against their desire to get closer to Israel to counter Iran.

(SPENCER PLATT/Getty Images)

Highlights

For Turkey, Iran and Qatar, this new Gaza crisis is an opportunity to shore up their roles as patrons of the Palestinians and leaders within the Muslim world.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, on the other hand, consider the Iran threat much more pressing than the Palestinian question.
This is a view shared by Israel, which eyes its northern border, where Iran's military buildup is taking place in Syria, with greater concern than it does the Gazan frontier.

Another round of protests in Gaza highlights how much has changed and how much, in many ways, has not. No one expects borders to change, alliances to shift quickly or the peace process to suddenly gain speed. In the background of this all-too-familiar round of unrest and violence, new opportunities -- and new risks -- await the old players. Over the past decade, slow-moving forces have reshaped how legitimacy is derived from the Palestinian issue, and how much value different states see in seeking to be the leader of the region's Muslims....

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