Kremlin Hosts Palestinian Security Forces Chief To Discuss Cooperation
Meeting motivated by Moscow’s search for allies, desire to pressure Israeli on Ukraine, experts say
Maj. Gen. Nidal Abu Dukhan, head of the Palestinian Authority’s National Security Forces, and Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin met this week and discussed military and intelligence cooperation.
The meeting was held in the context of a security conference convened in parallel to the Russian Defense Ministry’s Army-2022 international defense industry fair and military and technical forum, which runs August 15-21 in Kubinka, outside Moscow.
Ido Zelkovitz, head of the Middle Eastern Studies program at Yezreel Valley College, discussed the timing and goal of the meeting with The Media Line.
They want to show the world that there are different political powers supporting them
First and foremost, we should bear in mind that the Russians are trying to portray themselves in various ways as a legitimate political player, in light of the war with Ukraine, he said.
“They want to show the world that there are different political powers supporting them.”
Zelkovitz added that both parties, the Russians and the Palestinians, could gain points in the international arena from this meeting and from displaying warming relations.
The Kremlin wants as many political leaders as possible alongside it because 144 countries condemned Russia in the UN General Assembly for its aggression against Ukraine, Zelkovitz noted.
The Palestinian Authority, he continued, wants to be able to say it has the support of a superpower.
Prof. Yoram Meital, an expert on Middle Eastern politics at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, also believes that with the meeting, the PA intends to convey a message to the international community.
The message is directed to Israel as well as to the US, where both Republican and Democratic administrations have been heavily involved in the Palestinian issue, he said.
The atmosphere in Palestinian society in the past two or three years has been one of frustration. They do not see how they can reengage Israel in a diplomatic process, Meital said. The meeting “is part of sending a message to the Americans and to the Israelis that they [the Palestinians] are seeking different channels,” he added.
Zelkovitz noted that the Palestinians do not consider the United States an impartial mediator. “So they want the Russians to be involved in every future process,” he said.
Meital said that delivering a message seems to have been Moscow’s real goal in the meeting because the Palestinians could not provide the Russians, or any other international major player, any military assistance.
Zelkovitz added that during the Cold War, Palestinian officers were sent for study or training in Soviet bloc academies, but the Russians today do not have much to contribute to the PA military-wise.
“None of the weapons that get inside the Palestinian Authority can do so without the approval of Israel,” he said.
What the Palestinians and Russians could do is exchange useful intelligence on what’s going on in Syria, where there is a large Palestinian community and where Russia has interests, said Zelkovitz.
Meital added that it is possible that the reason this meeting was so openly discussed by Moscow relates to the Israeli condemnation of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It is no secret that the relationship between Jerusalem and Moscow has been under stress since the invasion by Russia of Ukraine,” he said.
By hosting a PA security delegation, Moscow may be sending a message that it could increase cooperation with the Palestinians to influence Israel’s policy on the Ukrainian issue, Meital added.
The Russians are doing whatever they can in order to apply pressure to make Israel feel uncomfortable that it supports Ukraine in an indirect way
Zelkovitz said that although Israel has tried to avoid leaning drastically toward any side in the Russo-Ukrainian War, there is doubt that the Jewish state is part of the Western bloc.
At the same time, Israel has its own interests regarding the Russians in various arenas in the Middle East, for example dealing with the Iranian proxies and other terrorist organizations on Syrian soil, he explained.
Israel didn’t condemn Russia directly, Meital added, “but we see that the Russians changed their behavior regarding Israel since it started to support Ukraine in a civilian way.”
“The Russians are doing whatever they can in order to apply pressure to make Israel feel uncomfortable that it supports Ukraine in an indirect way,” Zelkovitz said.
