How did Iran benefit from the Palestinian cause?

Background

Iran’s relationship with the Palestinian cause is one of the most controversial issues in the Arab and regional sphere, and the dispute always revolves around the extent to which the Palestinian cause has benefited from Iran, although there is another issue worth addressing: how has Iran benefited from the Palestinian cause?

The Iranian position during the Shah’s era was formal and symbolic. Although the Shah adopted an official position biased towards the Arabs in the conflict with the Israeli entity, it did not go beyond symbolism to direct support.

Iranian-Shia Revolution

When the Iranian Khomeini revolution broke out in 1979, the Arab region was experiencing profound transformations that culminated in the signing of the peace treaty with the Israeli entity, the decline of Arab nationalist discourse, and the increasing divisions among Arab states.

In light of this political vacuum, Khomeini’s Iran found in the Palestinian issue a rare opportunity to present itself as the revolutionary model that fulfils the aspirations of oppressed peoples, and the force opposing the Israeli entity and the United States, the official sponsor of the entity, taking advantage of the essential position that Palestine occupies in the Arab and Islamic conscience.

What kind of Support?

Since then, talk about Jerusalem and Palestine has become a constant part of Iranian discourse. Although Iran has provided military and logistical support to the Palestinian resistance, this support has been provided according to calculations of power, interest and influence, not moral, ethical, humanitarian or identity considerations.

Points of Tension & Strain

The context of the relationship between Iran and the Palestinian resistance has witnessed some points of tension when the political positions of the resistance conflicted with Iranian interests. After the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, Hamas refused to support the Bashar al-Assad regime, which led to a decline in its relationship with Iran, the strongest ally of the Syrian regime, and the resistance was exposed to the fire of the Iranian media.

Iranian Agenda

Over the past four decades, Iran has exploited the Palestinian cause to expand its influence, consolidate its regional project, and reshape its position in the equations of the Middle East.

Through its narrative regarding the Palestinian cause, it has benefited from overcoming sectarian and national barriers, building a positive mental image of Iran among the Arab and Islamic masses, whitewashing its image before the Sunni masses, and presenting itself as a force working for the causes of the nation, not the Shiite sect or Persian nationalism.

This populist rhetoric also helped it to mobilise and attract the Arab street to prepare for the acceptance of Iranian influence in the Arab world under the slogans of resisting the Zionist enemy, in addition to destabilising the existing Arab regimes and damaging relations between these regimes and their people.

Palestinian Slogans

The slogans of supporting the Palestinian cause were smokescreens covering up Iranian meddling in the Arab region and Iranian influence circles in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen through its proxies and arms. If the cause had this declared importance to the Islamic Republic of Iran, it would not have cooperated with the United States in the occupation of Iraq, the eastern gateway to Palestine. Giving up on it means giving up on Palestine because the first beneficiary of America’s occupation of Iraq is the Israeli entity.

Although the Palestinian resistance has a strategic commitment not to fight outside of Palestine, Iran has theoretically integrated the Palestinian resistance into the axis of resistance with the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq, and other factions loyal to the mullahs’ regime in Iran, and has benefited from the Palestinian resistance’s statements in support of it on the principle of returning the favour.

This integration by Iran, regardless of its position in reality, supported the idea of ​​the pivotal centrality of the issue for Iran in the Arab and Islamic mindset.

There is no doubt that Iran has benefited from the Palestinian issue in breaking out of geographical isolation, becoming an indispensable player in most Middle East crises, and discussions about regional security, the future of the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the stability of the region can no longer take place without considering Iran's influence.

Inside Iran

Within Iran, Palestine represented the practical embodiment of the discourse of confronting global arrogance. Therefore, whenever sanctions and economic crises intensified or internal protests escalated, the official Iranian media returned to emphasise that what was happening was a natural price for Iran’s adherence to supporting the Palestinian cause and confronting the forces of arrogance.

Iran & Israel: Both Expansionist

From another angle, Iran has benefited from the Palestinian issue in its competitive relationship with the Israeli entity in the region, as each of them has its own regional expansionist project, through the Palestinian resistance and its struggle with the Israeli entity. The existence of an open Palestinian front represents one of Iran’s cards in modifying the balance of power in the region and limiting Israeli hegemony in it.

Iranian Propaganda

The truth is that Iranian policy has succeeded, over more than four decades, in turning the slogan of supporting Palestine into a permanent element in the regional power equation. Every time a conflict breaks out between the resistance and the occupation army, Iranian propaganda becomes active in the slogans of the axis of resistance and the unity of the arenas, and portrays itself as having a pivotal role in the events.

Iranian Misfire

In the end, the relationship between Iran and the Palestinian cause is reduced to some support provided to the resistance in Gaza, without any efforts to improve the economic and living conditions in the Palestinian territories, or an attempt to contain the division of the Palestinian forces. Iran has not launched a single missile at the Israeli entity except in response to Israeli targeting of its territory, and Iran has not included the Palestinian cause in the context of the recent negotiations with the United States, despite including the Lebanese Hezbollah in the settlements.

Iran Benefits from the Palestinian Cause

I certainly do not hold Iran fully responsible for the weakness of the Palestinian position, but the discussion here came to clarify Iran’s relationship with Palestine, and that it has benefited from the Palestinian cause much more than it has benefited from it.

Author: Ihsan al-Faqih

Subtitles added by Maktabah al-Imam al-Ghazali

Source: https://aafaaq.org/article/10803/%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%81-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%AA-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B6%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9?section=%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA