What happens after the escalation?
“People in the Gaza Strip won’t just disappear”
By Andrea Sellmann and Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow
October 26, 2023, 9:30 a.m
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The world is looking at the Middle East with horror. The decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has reached a new level of escalation. Does a two-state solution still have a chance? And how does the Arab world react? A geopolitical classification.
Hardly any conflict has such a complicated and long history as the Middle East conflict. There is currently no relaxation in sight – and yet one question is becoming ever louder in the global community: How can the region achieve lasting peace? For Middle East expert Martin Beck, a two-state solution currently has little chance of success. “There would really have to be a turning point in Israel, I don’t see that happening,” Beck states in the new episode of the “Wirtschaft Welt & Weit” podcast. On the other hand, there are hardly any other options, so it still makes sense to stick with it.
Martin Beck is Professor of International Relations and Security Studies at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr and is currently the Professor of Middle East Politics at the Philipps University of Marburg. In the current podcast episode he classifies almost the entire Middle East. It describes which countries in the region have officially made peace with Israel and which Arab countries are in clear enmity with Israel. There are also a number of Arab nations, such as Qatar, that position themselves in the middle and play a special role in the current situation. The expert emphasizes that these intermediaries could now play a much more important role.
In addition to a detailed analysis of the friendships and enmities within the Middle East, Beck looks at the roles China, the USA and the EU play. As Israel’s closest ally, the USA is particularly concerned about the country’s security. Nevertheless, the Americans are increasingly advising Israel against a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. This could spark a conflagration in the region and possibly further weaken the US role in the Middle East, they fear.
Meanwhile, some Arab countries are increasingly turning away from the USA and moving closer to their system rival China. China needs raw materials and, among other things, is pursuing geostrategic interests in the Middle East. In this episode of “Wirtschaft Welt & Weit” we discuss which major Western powers can influence the conflict and whether it could actually lead to further escalation.
What does Germany have to do to continue to play an important role in the economic world of tomorrow? Who do we depend on? Which countries benefit from the new world situation? Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow discusses this with relevant experts in the ntv podcast “Wirtschaft Welt & Weit”.
You can find all episodes in the ntv app or wherever podcasts are available: at RTL+ music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or Deezer. For all other podcast apps you can use the RSS feed.