“As the broader Middle East peace process has stagnated, one of the quietest yet most tragic casualties has been the collapse of the political imagination. Yet, amid the devastation and dehumanization deepened in the post–October 7 reality, there remains an elusive opportunity to think radically differently about regional order and coexistence.
The collapse of the Assad regime marks a turning point—not just for Syria’s people, but as part of a broader weakening of the so-called “axis of resistance.” Such a shift could open space for a more pragmatic and less ideologically rigid regional balance. In this context, the Abraham Accords, though imperfect, demonstrate the stabilizing potential of shared interests and bottom-up normalization. Transnational challenges such as climate change cut across borders and identities, demanding cooperation even among longtime adversaries. Water scarcity, desertification, and shared environmental stressors may become unexpected drivers of dialogue where politics have failed.
Syria-Israel affairs embody the tension between despair and renewal, fatalism and possibility - the potential that amid collapse and polarization, new forms of regional interdependence might emerge.”
