The modern Middle East suffers from a consequentially glaring paradox: oil-rich Arab states undoubtedly possess some of the most concentrated geopolitical and economic leverage on the planet.  Yet, they have, since the 1970s, declined to use their economic indispensability in defense of Palestinian statehood and to uphold their own sovereignty.  

The pivot of Arab Gulf states away from historical Arab nationalism to Western alignment reflects a fundamental shift in regional priorities. Arab monarchs have traded their independence and vast regional clout for Western economic integration, advanced defense technology and foreign security assurances.  

The global community has, for decades, been led to believe that the path to Palestinian self-determination is a knot too complex to untangle. The reality, however, is far more transactional.  

The wealthy Gulf capitals and the wider Arab oil-producing bloc possess four critical pressure points that could be acted on to force a diplomatic breakthrough or affect meaningful regional change.  None, however, have been employed: 1) oil power; 2) sovereignty over waterways; 3) petrodollars; and 4) power of the umma.     

Oil Power

In 1973, Arab oil-producers demonstrated the efficacy of wielding oil as an economic weapon. It was one of those rare moments when Arab regimes exploited their leverage to challenge Western imperialism.   

After the start of the October 1973 Arab-Israel War between Egypt, Syria and Israel, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) imposed a total oil embargo in response to U.S. support for Israel during the war. They demanded that Israel withdraw from Palestinian lands they occupied in the 1967 War.  

OAPEC’s collective action caused shortages, triggered a massive recession and led to a realignment of the global economy.  The embargo generated massive revenue windfalls for producing states.  The sudden influx of capital accelerated the nationalization of their oil industries, allowing them to gain control of assets previously held by U.S. and British stakeholders.   

Despite the unprecedented wealth gained by Arab producers, the geopolitical landscape remained unchanged when OAPEC lifted the embargo in March 1974.  Israeli forces remained entrenched in occupied Palestine.  

The weaponization of oil has, since 1973, been unilaterally retired by Gulf elites.  During successive crises, including the catastrophic destruction and genocide in occupied Gaza and the West Bank, as well as the current war on non-Arab Iran, they have explicitly ruled out oil embargoes or production cuts to pressure Israel’s western enablers.  

Rather than utilizing energy as a tool of opposition to U.S.-Israeli hegemony, Arab regimes have aligned with and normalized relations with the perpetrators of occupation, apartheid and genocide. 

They have, for example, prioritized maintaining market predictability and maximizing revenues to fund domestic mega-ventures and “eco-normalization” energy projects, integrating Israeli infrastructure (in a dominant position) into Arab utility grids and gas imports.  

Sovereignty Over Waterways

Some of the most critical maritime corridors and strategic chokepoints, indispensable to global commerce, are situated in the Middle East; most notably the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and the Bab al-Mandab in the Red Sea.

The ongoing U.S. Israel war on Iran has underscored the critical importance of the region’s waterways to global commerce and how military disruptions can send shockwaves through energy and financial markets.

In the current asymmetrical war, Iran has demonstrated how to effectively use a vital waterway as a strategic tool.  It has leveraged the closure and disruption of the Strait of Hormuz to establish control over the waterway and force major strategic concessions.  Like Iran, Yemen’s Ansar Allah has threatened to close the Bab al-Mandab—the only entry point to the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean, which facilitates trade between Asia and Europe.  

Major Arab states have not advantaged their geography to challenge U.S.-Israel regional supremacy.  Instead, they have acted as guardians of the imperial status quo, securing these indispensable passages to ensure the uninterrupted flow of global commerce to the very nations underwriting the occupation of Palestine and genocide in Gaza.   

Petrodollars

The structural foundation of America’s financial dominance has been the “petrodollar”—a decades-old system in which oil is priced in dollars, with resulting surplus recycled back into U.S. Treasury bonds and Western financial assets.  

In addition to holding the “petrodollar card,” vast critical energy supplies and pivotal energy chokepoints, Arab states, particularly the Gulf Cooperation Council monarchies (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) control approximately six trillion dollars in sovereign wealth funds in Western markets.

Any coordinated effort to price energy in alternative currencies, diversify reserve holdings away from the dollar, or liquidate U.S. Treasuries would pose an existential threat to Western financial hegemony.

Instead of harnessing their immense economic and financial wealth to advance regional and Palestinian interests, Arab regimes continue to park petrodollars in Western institutions; effectively subsidizing the very financial systems of countries that have used their United Nations Security Council vetoes to block Palestinian statehood.

Power of the Umma

The force of the umma—the global community of Muslims—stems from the powerful concept of unity that transcends borders. It is sustained by spiritual solidarity rather than military might or economic dominance.  The collective consciousness of the faith is reflected in the Prophet’s teaching that the umma is one body—when any limb aches, the whole body feels the pain.  

The global Muslim community maintains a deep solidarity with Palestine, which is intrinsically woven into Islamic history and spirituality.  The conscience of the community has been awakened by the ongoing atrocities and the suffering inflicted on the Palestinians and on the destruction of Palestine, revered as sacred land.  

Across the artificial boundaries of the Middle East, the umma is an ocean of untapped revolutionary power willing to confront imperialism and the colonial Zionist occupation of Palestine.  

Arab political classes should pay heed that geopolitical strength stems from regional integration and solidarity with the umma, not the West. Instead of understanding Palestine as a unifying force and security imperative, they have used it as a card to be traded for Washington’s favor.  In so doing, they have sacrificed the moral authority of a righteous cause and converted their vast geopolitical clout into an instrument of passive complicity and regime survival, at the expense of liberation, integrity and dignity. 

The liberation of Palestine will not be won by the ink of compromised treaties and flawed diplomacy.  Instead it will be driven by the unified strength, outrage and heartbeat of millions across the Arab world, who refuse to let artificial borders or foreign forces dictate the limits of their solidarity.

Following months of deadly U.S. airstrikes on Iran, Arab states that have hosted American military bases and provided airspace for the war, are facing retaliatory strikes and severe economic disruptions.  

Caught in the crossfire, they face a critical choice: submit to continued foreign subjugation or utilize the collective power and resources they possess to rectify the historical and ongoing injustice inflicted on Palestinians, rid the region of destructive foreign meddling and restore dignity to the region.  

The Palestinian quest for statehood is not solely over external occupation; rather, it is about regional abandonment masked by rhetorical solidarity. By prioritizing regime survival, lucrative global trade networks and authoritarian stability over pan-Arab alignment and the Palestinian cause, Arab states have allowed themselves to become structurally subservient to the geopolitical dictates of Washington and the strategic ambitions of Tel Aviv.  

The ruling elite across the Arab world have been blind to the reality that the U.S. and Israel are wedded to subjugation, not cooperation.

In the final analysis, the black gold that once promised regional self-determination has instead financed a status quo of complicity and servitude, leaving the Palestinian cause marooned on an altar of transactional diplomacy and dynastic preservation.  

Dr. Behnam is a political scientist who specializes in comparative politics with a focus on West Asia.  His “Cultural Foundations of Iranian Politics,” published by University of Utah Press, and still in print, was recognized by Choice as Outstanding Academic Book for 1987-1988.

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