THE PALESTINE ROLE IN SAUDI ARABIA-IRAN GEOPOLITICAL STRUGGLE
THE PALESTINE ROLE IN SAUDI ARABIA-IRAN GEOPOLITICAL STRUGGLE

Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes the geopolitical rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Palestine, an extremely important region for the ambitions of both states of assuming preeminence in the Middle East. Iran, a perpheral regional actor and a Persian Shiite state, approaches the Palestinian cause as a means of legitimizing its policies and regional ambitions, thus becoming one of the main sponsors of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) groups. This prompted a proxy war since Saudi Arabia has chosen to support the rival group Fatah. The Arab Spring showed the limits of the relation between Iran and Palestinian groups which did not support the Assad regime and the Shiite rebelion in Yemen. However, despite all the tensions with Iran, both Hamas and PIJ maintained links with Tehran showing that military and financial access and support are a foremost strategic consideration. Iran is inclined to support the other non-state actors in Palestine for the maintenance of its power projection capacity. From the other side, Saudi Arabia, in the context of the relations with the US and Western countries, will try to limit the Iranian influence by mediating the Palestinian conflict and, at the same time, trying to marginalize the Iranian allies in the Arab world. The Saudi-Iranian relation functions in a realist paradigm both in the Middle East and in Palestine, with the two countries struggling to reach the coveted hegemon status concurrently with the marginalization of the oponent.

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