Is Arab World ready for another war?

Lines are being drawn across the world as the Hamas-Israel conflict intensifies.

Two hours ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel.

His visit wasn't just a show of solidarity.

US Secretary of State Blinken lands in Israel

Blinken's mission, as widely reported, is to prevent a wider war from erupting following the Hamas attack and the subsequent Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

It is about placating the so-called Muslim world. It was about ensuring that the Arab-Israeli wars, which have happened sporadically throughout the decades, doesn't repeat itself.

Munitions from the United States arrived in Israel from the US to resupply the country ahead of an expected IDF ground invasion in Gaza ahead of Blinken's visit.

While the Western world has been unequivocal in its support for Israel, many countries in the Middle East are yet to toe the line, so to speak.

Arab foreign ministers urged Israel to meet its international obligations as an occupying power and return to negotiations on a two-state solution that provides a viable state for Palestine.

At an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday, ministers stressed "the importance of resuming the peace process and starting serious negotiations between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel".

On an individual front, Saudi Arabia has committed itself to upholding the Palestinian cause.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The pair discussed the ongoing military escalation in Gaza and its surrounding areas, while the crown prince reiterated that the Kingdom was exerting all possible efforts in communicating with all international and regional parties to halt the escalation.

It also stressed the Kingdom's firm position towards supporting the Palestinian cause.

He stressed Saudi Arabia's position rejecting targeting of civilians and taking innocent lives, noting the grave concern about the seriousness of the humanitarian conditions in Gaza Strip.

Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday had said he was proud of Palestine and supported Palestinians, but denied Iran's involvement in the Hamas attack on Israel.

Elsewhere, Lebanon has already been embroiled in the conflict after Iran-backed Hezbollah group launched attacks on Israeli troops positioned in Lebanese borders.

Israel responded in kind, Sources in Hezbollah, meanwhile, say the group is more focused on resisting any spillover effects as opposed to going to war.

In Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan criticised the United States for moving a carrier strike group closer to Israel, saying that it would commit "serious massacres" in Gaza.

In an earlier phone call, Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed an immediate ceasefire and resumptions of talks.

Meanwhile, Egypt has moved to avert a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula, in a snub to US' proposal for creating a safe passage for Gaza civilians.

Talks on the safe passage, however, are considered a continuous discussion. 

The UAE, however, has maintained that it does not mix trade and politics.

It described the Hamas attack as a serious escalation, but did not go into more details.

In March, a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the UAE came into effect, which was Israel's first free trade agreement with an Arab state.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Joe Biden, in a call with United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed, condemned the attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the White House said in a statement.

What were the Arab-Israeli wars?

The Arab-Israeli wars describe a series of military conflicts between Israeli forces and various Arab forces, most notably in 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, and 2006.

The first such war was soon after the United Nations voted to turn Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state in 1948.

Clashes broke out almost immediately between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. The Arab League – then comprising Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan (now Jordan), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen – intervened "in order to help its inhabitants restore peace and security and the rule of justice and law to their country, and in order to prevent bloodshed."

Between February and July 1949, a temporary frontier was fixed between Israel and its neighbours.

In Israel, the war is remembered as its War of Independence. In the Arab world, it came to be known as the Nakba ("Catastrophe").

In 1956, there was the Suez Crisis, when then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser took a hostile stance towards Israel.

He nationalised the Suez Canal, a vital waterway connecting Europe and Asia.

The French and British, which largely owned the canal, struck a deal with Israel, whose ships were barred from using the canal by Egypt.

In October of the same year, Israel invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and in five days captured Gaza, Rafaḥ, and Al-ʿArīsh and occupied most of the peninsula east of the Suez Canal.

In December, after the joint Anglo-French intervention, a UN Emergency Force was stationed in the area, and Israeli forces withdrew in March 1957.

A UN buffer force was placed in the Sinai Peninsula soon after.

In 1967 began the six-day war.

Egypt, Syria and Jordan joined forces to pummel Israel forces, who retaliated and scored a definite victor.

Israeli units drove back Syrian forces from the Golan Heights, took control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and drove Jordanian forces from the West Bank. Importantly, the Israelis were left in sole control of Jerusalem.

In 1973, it was the Yom Kippur War, a consequence of the six-day war.

Israel was caught off guard by Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal and by Syrian forces crossing into the Golan Heights.

The fighting, which lasted through the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, came to an end on October 26.

Israel signed a formal cease-fire agreement with Egypt on November 11 and with Syria on May 31, 1974.

A disengagement agreement was signed between Israel and Egypt, signed on January 18, 1974.

On 26 March 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty formally ending the state of war that had existed between the two countries for 30 years.

In 2006, the Second Lebanon War broke out, following the one in 1982.

The war lasted 34 days but left more than one thousand Lebanese dead and about one million others displaced. Several Arab leaders criticised Hezbollah for inciting the conflict. Nevertheless, Hezbollah's ability to fight the Israel Defense Forces to a standstill won it praise throughout much of the Arab world, according to Britannica.

Is the Arab World ready for another war?

Experts interviewed by Arab News say that Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have funnelled money to funding Shiite fighters as well as Sunni Palestinian groups.

Those groups can join Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and West Bank.

Their numbers may be further bolstered by Hezbollah – who have already fired rockets on Israel on Monday – and the PIJ.

Meanwhile, Iran and its Shiite proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen — members of the so-called Axis of Resistance — have strongly supported Saturday's attack.

Iraqi and Yemeni armed groups aligned with Iran have also threatened to target US interests if the Biden administration intervenes to support Israel.

Iraq's Hashd Al-Shaabi has threatened to launch attacks on American troops in Iraq if the US becomes directly involved in the conflict.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has resisted all attempts to be ousted, allegedly approved the rockets fired from Syria by Hezbollah and Iranian-militants.

In Yemen, the leader of the Shiite Houthis gave warning on Tuesday that the militia would respond to any US intervention in Gaza with drones, missiles and other military options.

Apart from the military rhetoric, there are also economic factors to consider at a time of a global crisis.

An attack on Iran would also prompt further oil import embargoes and disrupt global supplies.

Nations, such as leader-less Lebanon and Tunisia, actually have a lot to lose and little to gain from a protracted conflict. Embroiling themselves into it would only mean threatening whatever little economic breathing space they have.

The tinder is ripe, but there remains doubt whether a match will be lit. For now, the hope is that a resolution is soon reached.

Blinken will be looking to do just that.