Addressing the Palestinian issue today while avoiding sterile rhetoric is an almost impossible task. Not only because the conflict is intrinsically unresolved, and perhaps irresolvable, but also because public opinion tends to reduce it to slogans, one-day protests, or superficial political statements, only to quickly return to daily routines as if nothing had happened.
Europe, under internal pressure, resorts to symbolic gestures like the recognition of the Palestinian state, which, however, have no real impact.
Israel seems determined to turn the current advantage into a historic opportunity to pursue the idea of a “Greater Israel,” a project rooted in the origins of Zionism, reinvigorated by the eschatological fervor of Mizrahi Jews and the demographic momentum of the Haredim, though it remains largely aspirational.
Throughout its history, Italy’s political posture has often displayed a distinct pro-Arab inclination, a tendency dating back to the era of Francesco Crispi, Italy’s prime minister at the end of the 19th century, whose foreign policy aimed at expanding Italian influence in the Mediterranean and North Africa. This inclination did not stem from ideological convictions but rather from geographic imperatives: situated as a natural bridge between Europe and the Mediterranean, the peninsula could hardly avoid looking southward and eastward.
Italy’s strategic interest in the Mediterranean emerged clearly during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, when, under the leadership of Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, the country targeted the Ottoman provinces of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania — the last accessible territories in a Mediterranean already carved up among the colonial powers. Although victorious, Italy soon saw its ambitions frustrated. After the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, it was Britain and France that secured the most strategic mandates in the Middle East, while Italy was pushed aside.
This marginalization drove Rome to seek new political relevance by aligning itself with Arab nationalist movements opposed to Anglo-French control. Italy’s pro-Arab policy was often instrumental — Mussolini’s brandishing of the “Sword of Islam” being a prime example — but it reflected a long-term strategic orientation that persisted even after Italy’s postwar expulsion from North Africa.
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