Doha

- The regional roles in the Middle East varied between military support for one of the two parties to the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the search for a political consensus to end a conflict whose political and economic repercussions exceeded the neighboring countries of the two parties to the conflict.

Participants in the fourth session of the activities of the 14th Al-Jazeera Forum, which came under the title "War and the Middle East... the repercussions of war in light of the different regional roles", agreed that the regional powers in the Middle East have played varying roles and have been involved in this global crisis in various forms. Various gains were obtained from it.

Participants in the session touched on Turkey's prominent role in the crisis, whether on the battlefield or in the field of mediation, which is one of the winners from the conflict, in addition to discussing the role of Iran, which seemed to be a party to this war on the side of Russia, which increased the tension in its relations. In the West, as well as Israel, which is looking for an influential role in the conflict that strengthens its regional and international alliances without harming its historical relations with its ally Russia.

The session witnessed a distinguished presence of elite politicians from different countries (Al-Jazeera)

Turkish role

The associate professor at the Turkish University of Sakarya, Ismail Numan Thalji, explains that the Russian war on Ukraine led to a great shock to the international community, as the world was not ready for this crisis at a time when it was recovering from the Corona virus pandemic.

Snowy added that Turkey has close trade relations with Russia, and at the same time it is working to improve its relations with the United States and Europe, noting that the ongoing conflict could have negatively affected Ankara had it not succeeded in managing its relations well with the West regarding this file.

As for how to deal, he explained that Ankara adopted 3 dynamics in dealing with the Russian-Ukrainian war, which were represented in 3 main axes: defense and armament, mediation efforts, and the initiatives it launched, indicating that the war may benefit Turkey and not the other way around, attributing this to Western sanctions on Russia, which will have to resort to Ankara economically and commercially.

Turkey was and still holds the same position rejecting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it continues to maintain its condemnation of the invasion while seeking to play a mediating role for negotiation and cessation of hostilities.

Fuad Izdi (center) believes that the Russian-Ukrainian war came in the interest of Iran (Al-Jazeera)

Iran's interest

In turn, Associate Professor at the Faculty of International Studies at the University of Tehran, Dr. Fuad Izdi, believes that the war on Ukraine has accelerated the transition to a multipolar world in international relations, which makes it impossible to think of normal relations between Russia and the West.

Ezdi added that the Russian-Ukrainian war came in Iran's interest in light of the US sanctions on his country, especially since the Iranians prefer to live in a multipolar world rather than a world controlled by the United States.

He added that despite the opportunities and challenges that the war brought to Iran, it generally deepened cooperation between Tehran and Moscow on the economic level, as economic and political isolation prompted Russia and Iran to further strengthen cooperation between them, he said.

Ezdi explained that Iran is one of the countries in the region that tried to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Russian-Ukrainian war, as due to considerations of the relationship between Moscow and Tehran, the war imposed repercussions on his country, some of which reflected opportunities for his country, while some came as challenges.

He stressed that the Iranian position on the conflict was embodied in more than one image, such as not condemning Russia and holding Russia and Ukraine responsible for the war, as well as condemning the West's policies towards some countries, especially the policies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Hunaida Ghanem confirmed that the war on Ukraine gave an image of double standards in dealing with the Palestinian issue (Al-Jazeera)

The Palestinian issue

With regard to the reflection of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the Palestinian cause, the researcher specialized in political sociology, Hunaida Ghanem, saw that the Western dealing with the repercussions of the war gave a clear picture not only of double standards, but also of the reality of who decides the standards and confiscates them, commenting, "Here dealing with resistance to the occupation has become Russia is completely different with the way it deals with the resistance to the Israeli occupation.

Ghanem said, during the session, that the atmosphere of war in Ukraine contributed - albeit temporarily - to a decline in interest in the Palestinian cause, as attention has become focused only on the conflict in Ukraine, while the Palestinian issue has been placed in the backyard, and it can only be returned to when the situation flares up. Just to put out the fires, according to her expression.

Ironically, she added, Israel is trying to play a mediating role between the two parties to the conflict, as well as benefiting from the war by attracting Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, and using its influence by putting pressure on some countries to refuse to receive Ukrainian Jews in order to push them to go to Israel. Himself preserving its historical relationship with Russia.

Regarding the Palestinian role, she stressed the need for the Palestinian Authority to benefit positively from the Russian war on Ukraine, especially by linking the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories to the occupation of Ukraine, while calling on the international community not to apply double standards.

Hunaida Ghanem called for exploiting the Russian-Ukrainian war indirectly by devising initiatives to mobilize and move the file of the Palestinian issue, through a qualitative move that leads to re-consideration of the Palestinian issue, especially with the boiling state in the Palestinian street as a result of Israeli practices and violations.