When Iran and Israel team up, Palestinians always lose

Sowing division

Iran also played a key role in fuelling the first major split within Fatah, led by Abu Musa, which paved the way for deeper Palestinian division. It smeared Arafat, accusing him of treason and collaboration and also worked to undermine the Oslo Accords.

Read more: 30 years later, Oslo's real objectives are clear

After Arafat's death, Iran continued to sow divisions among Palestinians by backing Hamas and Islamic Jihad and encouraging them to oppose the Palestinian Authority (PA). These divisions eventually culminated in the complete separation of Gaza from the West Bank, with Hamas ruling the former and Mahmoud Abbas of the PA ruling the latter.

The presence of two rival authorities dealt a devastating blow to the Palestinian cause, pushing the possibility of a political solution even further away. All the while, Iran was pretending that it was in a confrontation with Israel.

For its part, Israel tolerated Iran's meddling and interference across the Arab region. Why? Because fomenting and fuelling sectarian divisions and undermining state institutions helped weaken the Arabs and distract them from focusing on the Palestinian cause.

For a long time, Tel Aviv turned a blind eye to Iran's creeping influence in the region because it was serving Israel's interests. Israel also cynically used Iran's expansionism to garner support and sympathy from the US—and the West more generally—that Tehran posed an existential threat to the Jewish state.

All bark, no bite

But Iran has proven to be all bark and no bite. Despite its slogans and promises to liberate Palestine, Iran has never acted on its pledge to 'eliminate' Israel. In fact, it hasn't liberated a single inch of Palestinian land seized by Israel.

And the actions of Iran's allies (Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad) have done nothing but worsen the situation for Palestinians. The Al-Aqsa Flood operation proved to be an invaluable gift to Israel, accelerating the demise of the two-state solution and making the prospect of relocating Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states all the more real.

Read more: The sheer lunacy of Trump's Gaza takeover plan

Meanwhile, Iran seems to be exploiting Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing fallout to secure its nuclear ambitions and the survival of its regime, which is all the more indicative of its sinister tactics.

As former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski once remarked: "Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire." Likewise, without Israel, Iran cannot assert dominance over the region—and vice versa.