The Axis Of Resistance And Imperialism In West Asia

Abstract

The main thesis in this article is that the Axis of Resistance, at the center of which is the Palestinian struggle for liberation against the settler-colonial entity (Zionist entity) in Palestine, leads the fight against imperialism in West Asia. This struggle must be situated in its regional and global context. West Asia (and North Africa) is a region in which rivalry and animosity among regional and global state and non-state actors have accelerated since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The US, in collaboration with NATO, has sought to dominate the region, beginning with the demise of the USSR in 1990, but increasingly so since 2000. A critical point in the discussion is the organic relationship between the US and the Zionist entity in Palestine, which was created to keep the Arab East and West Asia, in general, within the Western imperialist fold. Multiple wars, uprisings and instability have transpired that can best be explained in the context of global capitalism dominated by the US as a singular player leading a pliable Europe and more often than not succeeding in arranging the political map of the world in its own image. Challenges to a unilateral globalizing world soon followed complicating the international scene militarily, politically, and economically. A consequence of this development has been an increasingly unstable international situation. This confluence of events compelled state and non-state actors in West Asia that belong to the Axis of Resistance to tread gingerly and weigh their moves so as not to come, at least prematurely, into direct conflict with US hegemony. In this milieu, the Zionist entity in Palestine stepped up the oppression of the Palestinian people and ramped up their ethnic cleansing and confiscation of Palestinian lands. While the Palestinian liberation movement had benefited from the relationship between it and the regional front against US global hegemony, considerations and calculations of this front often compelled it to readjust its tactical (and sometimes strategic) considerations to maintain the global alliance opposing US hegemony. Taking advantage of this reality the Zionist entity continues to increase the pressure on the Palestinians while attempting to degrade the capabilities of the Resistance front in clear support of US regional strategy. In May 2021 the Palestinian Resistance forced the settler-colonial entity to temporarily retreat from effecting its settler-colonial machinations in Palestine. In May 2022 the Palestinians, building on the successes of their confrontation with the existential enemy have thwarted imperialist, Zionist, and reactionary Arab calculations to defeat them. A plethora of recent examples demonstrated this point. Currently, facts on the ground show that the Palestinian Resistance has opposed regional compromise and capitulation to Western imperialism by some state actors. This opposition to US imperial strategy is the sine qua non for a dynamic confrontation by the Axis of Resistance in West Asia to defeat the US hegemon.