Doha - Saba:
During the session "Changing Arab Public Opinion and the Gaza War" within the Doha Forum, experts and researchers confirmed that Arab public opinion witnessed major transformations after the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation on October 7, 2023, and the war of extermination waged by the occupation on Gaza, as it became able to define its priorities and political and social biases more clearly.
Dr. Tarek Youssef, Director of the Middle East Council for International Affairs, pointed to the increasing influence of Arab public opinion on decision-makers in the region, stressing that geopolitical transformations such as normalization efforts between the Israeli occupation and Arab countries, threaten the Palestinian cause. He explained that resistance to this path depends on public opinion, through street activism, universities, and social media platforms, as well as armed resistance.
Nadim Houry, executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative, said Western decision-makers do not consider Arab peoples as development partners because of the policies of Arab governments that ignore public opinion and marginalize people through dictatorship and arrests. He called for exploiting the momentum created by the events in Gaza to change the worldview of Arabs as people seeking freedom and justice.
The session concluded with the need to activate the role of Arab public opinion as a key tool to face challenges and mobilize support for the Palestinian cause in the face of attempts to obliterate it from the international arena.