Russia, Iran, ISIS, Turkey, Kurds… everyone seems to be playing, except Israel.
The map of the Middle East is being redrawn, while Israel is simply trying to just hold on to what it has, hoping Jordan doesn’t collapse tomorrow, Hezbollah doesn’t take over the Golan Heights, ISIS doesn’t overrun the Sinai and that Iran and Russia don’t conquer what’s left of Syria.
While the regional powers are working hard to redraw the maps, extend their power and control, Israel is simplistically bragging about being an “Oasis in the Jungle.”
Unfortunately, Israel will find itself in an even tougher neighborhood once the lines are permanently redrawn, and that oasis will be even harder to maintain.
Instead of building more border trenches and wall, Israel needs to seriously consider regional expansion, just like everybody else is doing.
Israel needs to start pushing the jungle back, not staving it off
Israel should be prepared for the upcoming collapse of Jordan and to take over that country’s administration.
Instead of letting Hezbollah encroach on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, Israel needs to be considering how to fully take control there too, which might be openly picking a side.
And it’s only a matter of time before we find ourselves back in Hezbollah’s southern Lebanon.
Israel’s position of passivity and overt non-interference is temporarily keeping things quiet inside our borders, but by not openly taking sides, we’re also setting ourselves up for a worse situation down the road.
One solution Israel needs to consider is a new Israeli model of regional conflict management – some expansionist empire building and developing patron-client relationships, just like Iran, Russia and the other countries are openly doing.
The regions of Jordan and the Syrian Golan Heights must fall under Israeli rule, with the local limited-autonomy governments answering to Israel. We don’t need to transfer our citizens over, only our governmental administration.
In exchange, as part of the Israeli empire (and not the Iranian or ISIS empires), Israel will supply our client states with water resources, training to help them maintain their borders and assistance building their economies. This will help push back the jungle away from our borders.
We all know that sooner or later Israel will be heading back into southern Lebanon. It’s going to be a very, very difficult war.
A buffer zone needs to be carved out again to keep Hezbollah away so we don’t end up back there every few years, fighting an even more difficult war than the previous one.
If we don’t join in and play the regional game of redrawing the map, we’re going to instead find ourselves boxed in by the really bad guys, and that’s going to be much worse.