Paleastine issue leads US-Iran clash for Middle East dominance

Image So the Annapolis peace talks are on. Though Bush is gung-ho about them, the Palestinian and Israeli people have little hope they will yield anything substantial.They are right because the parties that really matter are not attending- Hamas and its covert backer-Iran. In fact, the shadow of Iran looms large over the peace talks in US. Iran had been invited too but it refused to attend. Image The US dismissed this refusal saying Iran is against anything that brings peace to the Middle East, as it has a vested interest in keeping the cauldron boiling. But, it’s more than that. The Palestine issue has become a part of a larger picture of US-Iranian struggle for dominance in the region. Till now Iran is succeeding. Its pet organization Hezbollah has bloodied Israel’s nose last year in Lebanon. Hamas not only won the Palestine elections, but has also captured Gaza. In Iraq, Iranian backed Shia groups are calling the shots there. It is against this backdrop that the US is trying to recover lost ground by trying to stitch up a peace deal between its “crony” Mahmoud Abbas and Olmert under the benign presence of anti-Iranian Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt; at the same time it is keeping Hamas at arms length. Image But pre-talks indicators say Annapolis will achieve little, but the US has thrown the gauntlet. The ball is in Iran’s court. Iranian leader Khamenei has smugly said the talks will fail. He is right. The balance of power in the Middle East is swinging rapidly in Iran’s favour. Image Russia and China seem to have understood this and have strengthened ties with Iran. So we see the Palestine issue has turned into an arena for power play between the US-EU on the one side and Iran [backed covertly by Russia and China] on the other side.