Afrasianet - The book "The Battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood and the Israeli Aggression on the Gaza Strip... Political and Strategic Analysis" in 2024 by Al-Zaytouna Center for Studies and Consultations in Beirut, written and prepared by Dr. Mohsen Saleh, Director General of Al-Zaytouna Center for Studies and Consultations since 2004, and former Head of the Department of History and Civilization at the International Islamic University Malaysia.

He was also the former Executive Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Amman, an associate professor of Palestine studies, and editor of the eight-volume Palestinian Strategic Assessment. He has published more than fifteen books and edited more than sixty books, mostly on Palestinian affairs.

The book considers that the Al-Aqsa flood operation on the seventh of October 2023 AD represented an unprecedented strategic event, and a major qualitative leap in the struggle against the Israeli occupation, as it dropped its security theory, and proved the centrality of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem in the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic conscience and the failure to adapt the Palestinian person, and practically devoted the resistance project, and dropped the hypothesis of the possibility of closing the Palestinian file, and left a deep impact on the Palestinian track.

On the other hand, the Israeli aggression that followed was the fiercest, most brutal and destructive in the history of the entity, and Gaza is still experiencing unprecedented annihilation and a war that is expanding little by little.

Al-Zaytouna Center has kept pace with many aspects of this battle and its repercussions, including the Palestinian, Arab, Israeli and international positions, and issued this book, which included thirty-eight titles of political and strategic analytical topics by Prof. Dr. Mohsen Muhammad Saleh, and highlighted many points that occupy the interests of specialists and followers, making it a reference book regarding a sound and deep understanding of the battle and its repercussions on the Palestinian, Arab, Islamic, Israeli and international levels.

After the brief introduction, which expressed the importance of what happened in the "Al-Aqsa Flood"  and the effects of the ongoing battle, comes the first title "The Strategic Implications of the Al-Aqsa Flood", in which the author reviewed six strategic implications, namely:

1.    The first strategic significance of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is the fall of the Israeli security theory based on the principles of deterrence, early warning and decisiveness, to which a fourth principle was added in 2015, the principle of defense.

2.    The second strategic significance is the centrality of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem in the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic conscience.

3.    The third strategic significance is the practical dedication to the resistance project, as the correct effective tool to extract the rights of the Palestinian people and defeat the occupation.

4.    The fourth strategic significance is the failure of the Zionist project to subjugate the Palestinian person.

5.    The fifth strategic significance is Israel's failure to present itself as a policeman for the region.

6.    The sixth strategic significance is the fall of the hypothesis that the Palestinian file can be closed while the process of normalization with Arab and Islamic countries takes place.

The philosophy of power and the next day

Then comes the second title, "The Flood of Al-Aqsa... Dealing with the day after the operation" discusses both Israeli behavior and the behavior of the resistance after the seventh of October to reach the conclusion that "the Israeli occupation is as willing to take revenge and crush the resistance in Gaza, the more it is terrified of failure. Therefore, he will strive with all his might to achieve a victory or "image of victory," but the chances of his failure are not low, which may mean that October 7 will go down in history, whether as a qualitative achievement of the resistance or as an important milestone in the path of defeating Israel, according to the book.

The third title is "War Crimes in Gaza... The title discusses the philosophy of power in the Israeli occupation, speaking, for example, Vladimir Jabotinsky, the "philosopher of violence" in Zionist ideology, and the spiritual father of Menachem Begin and the ruling Likud party, who argued that "politics is power," that "what is not taken by force, is taken with more force," and that the Zionist project is linked to its progress with the power of its weapons. Jabotinsky adopted the idea  of "sacred selfishness," which means the imperative of sacrificing others to accomplish the Zionist project, according to the book.

The fourth title is "Palestinian Resistance... The author proceeds to discuss the idea, anticipating a review of liberation experiences in the world by saying: "How precious is a drop of blood, and in the Islamic understanding, destroying the Kaaba stone by stone is easier for God than shedding the blood of a Muslim. The Palestinian people are an open people who love life, as they love and adore their land, and their psychological and social structure is bound by honor, pride and dignity, but they were placed under occupation and under harsh choices, so displacement was imposed on them, their land and holy sites were usurped, their suffering was weakened, and the enemy sought to humiliate them and to lose their freedom and dignity, so the revolution was necessary, because life loses its meaning and man loses his humanity without a homeland, land, pride or dignity.

Then comes the fifth title to answer the question "Why do Western politicians tend to ignore the Israeli massacres against the Palestinians?" reviewing five factors that push American and Western politicians, to varying degrees, to ignore and absolve the terrible massacres of the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people.

Liberation Project

The sixth title is "Resumption of the Liberation Project... The author argues that the most prominent Western and Israeli political manifestations that the observer follows with disgust are the debate on the supposed projects and solutions for the future of the Gaza Strip in the event of the elimination of "Hamas rule." He pointed out that the Western mind is preoccupied with how to return the Palestinians to the "fold" and not in how to liberate them from it, preoccupied with how to prolong their suffering, ignoring their most basic rights, and how to prolong the occupation and oppression, and in legitimizing, expanding and consolidating it, and discusses the proposed projects to conclude that the Palestinian people and with it the nation are determined to liberate Palestine, and that all attempts to subjugate them, subjugate them or put them in the "settlement fold" are doomed to the dustbin of history, as described in the book.

The Arab position

Then comes the seventh title, "The Arab Position on the Aggression on the Gaza Strip...  The author discusses the transformation of the resistance from a burden on Arab regimes to an adversary, explaining the factors for this, for example: "In the second decade of the twenty-first century, three factors emerged that pressured Arab retreat and retreat from supporting the resistance.

The first of these is internal conflicts, conflicts and turmoil in light of the waves against the Arab Spring, and preoccupation with internal concerns and files.

Second, the Arab regimes that continued to dominate, far from managing their peoples, have become more vulnerable to pressure, and more in need of external regional and international support, especially the United States and the West. This has made it easier for Americans – especially in the Trump era – to push for normalization of relations with Israel.

Third, the Palestinian armed resistance consists of two Islamist movements: Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They were united by the regimes' opposition to the line of resistance and the hostility of these regimes to the Islamic currents that spearheaded the Arab Spring in their countries, which made it more difficult to resist action and the lack of an incubating strategic environment in the Arab countries. This caused the resistance to build a strong relationship with Iran, which supported the resistance financially and militarily, which further strained relations with a number of regimes. It has come to view the resistance through its relationship with Iran, not through its duty towards Jerusalem, holy sites and Palestine, and its national and Islamic responsibilities and national security."

End of war arrangements

The eighth title discusses in detail "From the Qassam to the Qassam", the ninth title discusses at length "the implications of the truce and the prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and the Israeli entity", then the tenth title talks about "criteria for the arrangements for the day after the end of the aggression on the Gaza Strip" and sets out six criteria as follows:

1.    The first criterion is that the Palestinian people are mature people, capable of deciding their own future, and no one can put trusteeship on them or decide on their behalf. International and Israeli projects cannot be imposed on them no matter what they are (international trusteeship, Arab Islamic forces, the Ramallah government with Israeli standards, a local technocratic government that is satisfactory to Israel and internationally...).

2.    The second criterion is that any proposals for solutions must not be solutions to the problems of the Zionists, resulting from the occupation, the usurpation of land and holy sites and the oppression of the Palestinian people;

3.    The third criterion is that any solutions for the future of the Gaza Strip (and for the future of the issue) are not linked to simply improving the lives of Palestinians under occupation or under siege.

4.    The fourth criterion is that the major powers must stop providing cover for Israel to remain a "state above the law."

5.    The fifth criterion is the inherent right of the Palestinian people to their land and holy sites, thus standing up to attempts to displace and displace them, and preventing a new Nakba in response to Israeli arrogance, arrogance and brutality.

6.    The sixth criterion is that the urgent measures required can be summed up in: stopping the aggression, opening the crossings, lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, preventing displacement, rebuilding the Gaza Strip, and seeking to pay the occupation the price of its crimes in killing civilians, and the price of destroying homes, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, infrastructure and others.

The eleventh title, "A World Without Enthusiasm," deals with the hypothesis of getting rid of Hamas calmly, and objectively. Answering the questions of those who mobilized the world and the media against Hamas.

The twelfth title is "The Project of Displacement of Gaza Palestinians to Sinai... Why and what is its fate?" answers the questions raised in this case; was the occupation really serious about that?! Or was it a kind of raising the ceiling of the objectives of aggression to the highest extent possible, so that what can be achieved according to the field performance of the war takes place? Or did he express hysteria and madness after the devastating blow he received on October 7, 2023, where he wanted through his brutal and fierce attack, taking advantage of the American Western cover, to reach the best possible safety for his settlers, especially in the Gaza envelope, so that the largest possible number of Gazans would be displaced, to provide a buffer security strip along the lines of contact with the Strip?

The thirteenth title details the statement in "The Palestinian people vote for the resistance" and the fourteenth title analyzes "The martyrdom of Arouri... More fuel for Hamas and the resistance" The fifteenth title comes in which the author presents "A Reading of the Israeli Dilemma in the Gaza Strip", in which he presents eight of the most prominent features of the Israeli predicament in its war on the Gaza Strip, and the sixteenth title talks about "Zionism and Israel... and the monopoly of the victim" and in title seventeen, the author provides answers to "Targeting UNRWA... for whose benefit?" and the eighteenth on "Political Scramble before the Truce in the Gaza Strip."

The nineteenth title details the talk about "The Nation and Gaza... "One of the most important challenges facing the nation is how to achieve a state of continuous and escalating systematic interaction, commensurate with the magnitude of the challenge with the gravity of the battle.

For decades, we have been accustomed to instantaneous interaction with the event, and depending on how heated it is, Israel's losses, massacres, martyrs and destruction, the degree of interaction is that it quickly fades as the event stops or takes on a continuous, usual "monotonous" pattern. Demonstrations, events, fundraisers, boycotts are gradually weakening... until you stop.

Perhaps this is human nature, especially with the existence of corrupt and tyrannical Arab and Islamic regimes, which are interested in diverting the attention of their masses from such battles, uprisings and events, because they expose and expose the shames, weaknesses, betrayal and negligence of these regimes, and be an element of revolt for peoples against their powerless or complicit regimes.

On the other hand, Israel and its allies are working systematically and continuously, within a specific vision that receives global Western support, to close the Palestinian file, empty the victories and achievements of the resistance of their content, distort the models of heroism and sacrifice, and hold the resistance responsible for the suffering of the people and the conditions of oppression and destruction under occupation, while betting on the weakness of peoples' memory, and betting on the "systems of triviality" prevailing in our Arab and Islamic world.

The title 20 asks about "the resignation of the Shtayyeh government... A leap back?!" followed by the twenty-first title analyzing "The American sidewalk in Gaza and the savage humanity" and the twenty-second title "Fatah and Hamas... Fatah's statement issued on March 15, 2024, distributed by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, discusses accusing Hamas of being "detached from reality", while the twenty-third title engraves "Security Council Resolution and Israel's Increasing Isolation", the twenty-fourth title reviews "Thirteen indicators of the entry of the Israeli war on Gaza in lost time", while the twenty-fifth title analyzes "the Israeli occupation and the arrangements of the day before the end of the war on Gaza" and the sixth title The 20th, "The Israeli Assault on Rafah is Doomed to Failure," speaks of an ongoing valuation of the Israeli currency in Rafah.

The twenty-seventh title talks about "Netanyahu and the escape forward" to come title twenty-eighth answering the question "Why the continuation of the official Arab intransigence towards Hamas and the resistance?" and then discusses the twenty-ninth title "The phenomenon of integration and erosion and the future of the Zionist entity" to come the thirtieth title "The flood of Al-Aqsa and the promotion of the Islamic project for Palestine" in which the author says: "Those who rose up in favor of Palestine from countries and peoples of different nationalities, religions and trends, know the resistance They sensed the humanitarian aspect that the resistance succeeded in providing, as well as the ugly Zionist face of occupation and aggression. When we focus on the common humanity, there is no need to abolish our identity, nor does there need for others to change their identity, for there are enough great human values to bring us together and mobilize us against the Zionist project, which is against man and against the movement of history, and threatens global peace and stability."

Then discusses the thirty-first title "The Israeli occupation and the state of confusion in the war on Gaza", while the thirty-second title reviews "The Palestinian National Dialogue Forum... The thirty-third title, "Hamas and the Removal of the Ideological Abaya," discusses Hamas' repeated call to "remove the ideological cloak" and abandon its Islamic offering, and to become a "national liberation" movement, because, according to them, the "ideological restriction" hinders Hamas and misses the opportunity to achieve achievements in Arab and international political environments that are negatively sensitive to Islamists. Moreover, this removal of the cloak makes it easier for many parties to deal openly with Hamas, thus facilitating Hamas' active political participation in the Palestinian arena, and playing the required role and influence.

Title XXXIV details the question of "the participation of Arab forces in the administration of the Gaza Strip after the war," while title XXXV analyzes "Netanyahu's rhetoric and systems of arrogance and triviality."

In the thirty-sixth title, the author talks about "Hamas as it bids farewell to Haniyeh" and then talks in detail in the thirty-seventh title about "Hamas and the leadership escalation" to conclude the book with the thirty-eighth title by providing answers to the question "Negotiations on ending the war on Gaza... Where to?"

In his one-hundred-thirty-seven page book, Dr. Mohsen Saleh provides answers to many questions related to the battle of the Al-Aqsa flood and the ongoing war on Gaza in an in-depth analytical manner and a strategic vision that emerges from the pressure of the present to see beyond events.