Alwaght- One of the issues that since the start of the Israeli-Arab normalization in September last year has been a topic of media, political, and regional debate was Baghdad’s entry to the project. The Iraqi government’s failure to strongly condemn the normalization and also the political groups' weak criticism of the Arab thaw with Tel Aviv fueled the speculations about if the Palestinian cause is falling out of favor with the crisis-hit Iraqi society and Iraq separating ideologically from the Axis of Resistance.
However, following the Israeli assaults on Al-Aqsa Mosque worshipers, the brutal airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, and crackdown on the West Bank and other occupied Palestinian territories, the strong-toned reaction of the Iraqi government and political parties to the Israeli actions marked the last nail in the coffin of speculations about Baghdad entry to the Arab-Israeli normalization process. And it at the same time demonstrated the wrong understanding of the Iraqi nationalism and dream about Baghdad embracing the Arab countries standing on the opposite side of the Resistance camp in the region.
Iraqis condemn the Israeli brutality in strongest terms
Recently, Iraqi political and party officials have univocally condemned the Israeli attacks on Muslims in the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque. In the most important reaction, the Iraqi foreign ministry on May 8 condemned the attack of the Israeli forces on the Palestinians in the holy site. In a statement, Baghdad said it condemns the attack on the Palestinian worshippers and intimidation of them. Expressing solidarity with the Palestinians, Baghdad called on Tel Aviv to stop these hostile actions.
Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of Sadr Movement, on May 8 in a tweet said: "Najaf supports Palestine against your enemy and the enemy of the God, Islam and religions. All acts of aggression take place amid the sheer silence of Arab and Muslim leaders, as if Al-Quds is for Israel not for original people." Muqtada al-Sadr wrote in the same tweet: "This is a message from the holy Najaf to the residents of the holy Al-Quds and the Palestinian brothers. We are with you, against our enemy and your enemy, and in fact the enemy of God, humanity, Islam, and religions."
Additionally, on May 11, the Sadr Movement expressed readiness to "defend the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque against the Zionists."
"We are fully ready to sacrifice for the sanctities including the holy Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque," said Sadr Movement's military wing commander.
Along with these reports, media said that al-Sadr talked over phone to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhala. "He told the Palestinian leaders that Iraq backs the Palestinian nation and fighters and lauded the pounding of the Zionist enemy and congratulated them for the response," media reports said.
Sayyed Amar al-Hakim, another Iraqi political leader, in a message on May 7, marking the International Al-Quds Day, stated that World Quds Day reminds of the "oppression to which the dear and brotherly Palestinian nation and their cause are subject. It has roots in all of the awake consciences. It is an opportunity to renew commitment to the Muslim and Arab worlds' top issue."
Also on May 11, al-Hakim released a statement, saying: "The risky security developments in Al-Quds, Gaza and many other Palestinian cities necessitate a comprehensive global effort to support the oppressed Palestinian people and to stop plotting against their ancestral lands and violating their dignity." Addressing the international community, he stressed: "The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, the Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, and the legal and humanitarian institutions of the world are obliged to take a firm stand and take immediate action to end the crisis and return the situation to normal."
Nouri al-Maliki, former prime minister and the head of the State of Law Coalition, referring to the uselessness of the Arab normalization moves, praised the anti-Israeli attacks by resistant Palestinian factions. A Twitter post of him read: "Heroes of the Palestinian resistance, we congratulate you on your heroic attacks against the usurping Zionist regime."
Illusion of Iraq involvement in normalization process shattered
With a focus on the stances taken by the Iraqi regime and the political groups, it can be clearly understood that no matter how they think and what their political tendencies are, they have the least doubt about supporting the anti-Israeli fight in Al-Quds, Gaza, and West Bank.
The readiness of the Iraqi political factions to fully support the Palestinian Muslims and to enter the fight against the Israelis to defend the holy Al-Aqsa reflects the fact that the issue of Iraq joining the process of normalization of relations with Tel Aviv is more born of propaganda of some pro-thaw Arab regimes and also the Israeli intelligence and have no root in reality.
Iraqi nationalism different from Arab nationalism
On the other hand, the reaction of Iraqi parties to the Israeli attacks in Al-Quds illuminates the true nature and content of Iraqi nationalism, which in recent years has been the focus of attention and investment of the enemies of the Axis of Resistance to distance Iraq from the Resistance camp in the region. Arab nationalism was born in the early decades of the twentieth century, culminating in the mid-twentieth century under the leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt and later the Ba'athist regime in Iraq. But in recent decades, Arab nationalism, contrary to its original slogans, has tended to compromise and surrender to the West, especially the US, and has lost its original nature.
A symbol of the Arab distance from the original agenda of nationalism is the massive Western influence in the Arab countries, dependence of their security on the US, making compromises to Tel Aviv, and turning their back to the Palestinian cause. But things are different in Iraq. Pro-Palestinian positions and demands for expulsion of the American forces from Iraq bear witness to the different nature of nationalism in Iraq. Actually, the Iraqi nationalism, focusing on the Islamic-Arab identity of the country, more than anything else insists on national independence, end of occupation and foreign intervention, and restoration of peace and stability to the country. By the way, all these aspirations carry hallmarks of the Resistance camp nature and agenda. Therefore, the government's tendency to boost relations with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Qatar cannot build a ground on which one can suggest Iraq is distancing itself from the Axis of Resistance. Baghdad stances on recent Al-Quds developments strongly prove this argument.
