Israel on verge of collapse

Even during Israel’s 22-day war on Gaza, the regime of Hosni Mubarak closed the Rafah border crossing, which is the Gaza Strip’s only connection to the outside world, and prevented defenseless Palestinians from escaping to Egypt. In fact, Mubarak was a leading anti-Palestinian force in the region. Despite the fact that he was supposed to be a mediator, Mubarak did a great favor for Israel and the United States by blocking the national reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas.

Hosni Mubarak was finally removed by the popular uprising in the country, and in the new political reality, the people’s opposition to Israel’s domination of occupied Palestine and aggression toward other Arab countries is finally receiving a voice.

The anti-Israeli movement has a very long history in Egypt. From the very beginning of the establishment of Israel, parties like the Muslim Brotherhood were opposed to Israel and its influence on Egyptian governments, and the current leadership of the party has not changed its position. Figures such as Kamal el-Halbawi, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, have always emphasized that resistance to Israel is the only way forward to realize the liberation of Palestine. This stance is in line with the position adopted by Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which many analysts say is the main model for Egypt’s popular uprising.

In an interview with BBC Persian TV, el-Halbawi explicitly described the linkage with the Iranian revolution as an undeniable fact.

The Egyptian revolution is far from complete, but at the very beginning of the revolution there were calls for the closure of the Israeli embassy and anti-Israeli slogans were chanted. The people of Egypt want their government to officially cut off diplomatic ties with Israel and to begin supporting the Palestinians and their resistance movements.

The opening of the Rafah border crossing on May 28 was another manifestation of the Egyptian revolutionaries’ popular demand for the liberation of Palestine.

Many Israeli analysts, and especially those working for the strategic institutes of the Zionist regime, are frightened by the accelerating rate of change produced by the revolution. They believe that the popular uprising in Egypt is on exactly the same path as Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, and sooner or later Egypt will stand beside countries like Turkey and Syria in the resistance front under the leadership of Iran.

And if developments continue to move in this direction, Israel will eventually be surrounded. Moreover, if the wave of revolutions reaches Jordan, it will overthrow the country’s monarchist system and Israel will have no more allies in the region.

The popular uprising in Egypt cannot be described as a revolution, because it has not created fundamental changes in the country. But given the fact that the Egyptian people are asserting themselves and expressing their support for the Palestinian resistance movement, it can be said that the Zionist regime is on the verge of collapse.

Majid Safataj is a professor of international relations. He has conducted extensive research on the issues of Palestine and Zionism.