The escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which began with an attack by the radical group Hamas, has been dominating the news agenda for more than two weeks. The world’s largest media changed the topics of online broadcasts from the Ukrainian counter-offensive to reports from the Middle East, and journalists accredited to the meeting of EU foreign ministers did not ask the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, a single question about Ukraine for the first time in a year and a half. Retaliatory strikes by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip, large-scale destruction in residential areas and the tragedy at Al-Ahly hospital,
shook up not only Arab countries, but also the large Muslim diaspora in Europe. Thousands of protesters filled the streets of London and Berlin to condemn the authorities for their pro-Israel stance. Lenta.ru talked with the Chairman of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai International Discussion Club, Dean of the Faculty of Creative Industries at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Andrei Bystritsky and found out why the whole world is watching the worsening of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with such attention, why the European Union has taken a wait-and-see attitude and how events in the Middle East affect the support of Ukraine by its Western allies.
But the current conflict may turn out to be a serious trigger due to the historical context: a strong change in the world order is already taking place, new rules of the game are being developed, old hierarchies are falling apart, and new ones are emerging in their place. We have witnessed the emergence of new organizations, like BRICS, and colossal projects, for example, “One Belt and One Road”: just the other day, the third international forum within the framework of this initiative was held in Beijing.
The escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict puts the entire development of the situation at risk and could drag surrounding Arab countries into hostilities. And this, in turn, may automatically entail drawing Western countries into the conflict, primarily the United States, which has already sent its aircraft carriers to the region.
