|
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume 56 Number 29, October 10, 2026 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
The Palestinian Information Centre, October 7, 2026
The repercussions of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation have extended far beyond the battlefield in Palestine.
According to a number of Arab political commentators and anti-normalisation figures, its effects have reached the foundations of the Israeli project itself, which influenced Israel's regional and international standing, the future of normalisation efforts, and wider regional power dynamics. The operation has also brought the Palestinian cause back to the centre of global political and popular attention.
In assessments offered by Maan Bashour, President of the Arab International Centre for Communication and Solidarity; Ahmed Wehman, President of the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalisation; and Maher Al-Taher, Secretary-General of the Arab National Congress, a common conclusion emerged: October 7, 2023, marked a strategic turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The operation, they argue, exposed the limits of Israeli power and undermined a key part of the image Israel had spent decades cultivating as an unrivalled regional force capable of imposing its will throughout the region.
Israel's vulnerability put to the test
Bashour believes that the Al-Aqsa Flood exposed the fragility of both the Israeli occupation and the Western system that supports it, producing political, diplomatic, and popular shifts that extended far beyond the military arena. He argues that the confrontation restored Palestine to the forefront of Arab and international attention.
According to Bashour, the events of October 2023 did not emerge in isolation but were the result of a long process of Palestinian and Arab resistance. He says the operation demonstrated the ability of the Palestinian resistance, together with supporting fronts across the region, to create military and political surprises.
"The war revealed deep contradictions within Israeli society, including tensions between political and military leadership," Bashour explained, adding that the war resulted in growing public protests related to the war and Israeli captives held in Gaza. These developments, he argues, raise questions about Israel's ability to sustain prolonged military campaigns despite its advanced military capabilities and extensive Western backing.
Bashour further contends that the war highlighted the depth of the strategic relationship between Israel and the United States. He argues that Western military, political, and diplomatic support helped sustain Israel's military campaign, even as divisions widened within Western societies and pro-Palestine demonstrations spread across universities and public spaces.
Collapsing image of the "regional policeman"
Focusing on normalisation efforts, Ahmed Wehman argues that Al-Aqsa Flood dealt a significant blow to the foundations of Israel's image as a regional power capable of providing security guarantees to its allies.
Wehman says that October 7 exposed serious weaknesses in Israel's security and intelligence apparatus and undermined one of the principal arguments used to promote normalisation: the claim that Israel possesses overwhelming military, technological, and intelligence superiority capable of serving as a regional security umbrella.
He points to what he describes as a striking contradiction. While Israel had long presented itself as a source of protection for others, it ultimately required extensive external support, particularly from the United States and Western powers, when confronted with a major security challenge.
According to Wehman, possessing the ability to wage war does not necessarily translate into an ability to provide security and stability. He argues that, in the eyes of growing sectors of public opinion, Israel has shifted from being portrayed as a source of security to being viewed as a contributor to regional instability.
From this perspective, he believes the war halted the momentum of normalisation initiatives that had been moving toward the establishment of a broad regional framework incorporating Israel in the fields of security, defence, intelligence, technology, and economics. The renewed centrality of the Palestinian issue, he says, fundamentally altered that trajectory.
Strategic shift beyond Gaza
Maher Al-Taher places Al-Aqsa Flood within a broader historical context, describing it as a strategic turning point whose consequences will extend far beyond Gaza and Palestine to affect Israel's future, the Arab region, and regional and international power balances.
Al-Taher points to two interconnected realities highlighted by the past three years. The first, he says, is the Palestinian people's ability to endure despite immense destruction, displacement, and suffering. The second is the exposure of what he describes as the true nature of the Israeli project, its expansionist objectives, and the role played by the United States and Western governments in supporting it.
According to Al-Taher, the confrontation undermined the image of the Israeli military as an invincible force and challenged the perception of an all-powerful security system capable of maintaining complete control. The events demonstrated, he argues, that military superiority alone is insufficient to resolve the conflict or break the will of the Palestinian people.
He also contends that Israel attempted to compensate for strategic setbacks through extensive destruction targeting the foundations of Palestinian life. In his view, attacks on homes, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure went beyond military retaliation and reflected an effort to undermine Palestinians' ability to remain steadfast on their land.
Palestine returns to centre of global attention
The three commentators converge on a central conclusion: the war restored the Palestinian cause to the forefront after years of attempts to marginalise it or reduce it to a purely humanitarian or security issue.
Al-Taher argues that Palestine has re-emerged as a national liberation cause. Bashour points to expanding solidarity with Gaza across the Arab world and internationally, as well as a growing gap between official government positions and public sentiment.
Wehman similarly argues that the war exposed the limits of normalisation agreements in reshaping Arab public opinion. Continued occupation, war, and violations, he says, have weakened efforts to present Israel as a normal and accepted partner in the region.
At the same time, shifts in Western public opinion became one of the most notable outcomes of the war. Universities and major cities across the West witnessed large-scale demonstrations in support of Palestine, while images of destruction, death, and humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip placed increasing pressure on the Israeli narrative.
From battlefield to courts, diplomatic arenas
The transformations identified by the three commentators were not limited to politics and public opinion. They also extended into legal and diplomatic spheres.
Bashour notes that the war pushed the Palestinian issue into new international legal arenas, citing South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. He argues that legal efforts should be expanded to pursue accountability for alleged violations.
He maintains that the coming period requires greater coordination of political, legal, and media efforts, alongside converting international solidarity into practical pressure on Israel and the states supporting it.
Normalisation faces new test
The three analyses suggest that one of the most significant arenas affected by the Al-Aqsa Flood concerns Israel's future relationship with the wider region.
According to Wehman, the security and economic promises that accompanied normalisation initiatives no longer carry the same weight they did before the war, particularly after Israel itself relied heavily on American and Western support in confronting major security challenges.
Al-Taher argues that the war demonstrated the impossibility of separating regional restructuring projects from the Palestinian question. Attempts to bypass the Palestinian people's national rights through regional arrangements, he contends, will not resolve the underlying causes of the conflict.
For his part, Bashour emphasises the need to transform these developments into a broader Arab and Islamic strategy encompassing political, legal, media, and economic action, while strengthening Palestinian steadfastness and confronting normalisation efforts.
The battle is not over politically
Despite differences in emphasis, the three commentators agree that the consequences of the Al-Aqsa Flood cannot be measured solely by developments on the battlefield or the scale of destruction and losses. They argue that its significance lies equally in the political and popular transformations it generated, its impact on Israel's image, and the broader debate it sparked over the future of the region.
Al-Taher warns that the next phase may witness Israeli and American attempts to translate the war's outcomes into long-term political and security arrangements.
Bashour, meanwhile, cautions against the possibility of a wider regional confrontation and the consequences such an escalation could bring.
At the same time, the analysts maintain that the scale of Palestinian sacrifices requires Arab and Palestinian political actors to move beyond expressions of solidarity toward concrete action. Their priorities include Palestinian unity, rebuilding national institutions, supporting Gaza's resilience, and advancing legal, diplomatic, and media initiatives.
Taken together, these assessments suggest that Al-Aqsa Flood represented more than a military confrontation. They view it as a watershed moment that challenged perceptions of Israeli power, exposed the limitations of normalisation projects, restored Palestine to the centre of international attention, and opened a broader debate about the future of the region and its balance of power, with the consequences of the war likely to continue shaping the conflict for years to come.