Reports of a supposed Arab force presence in Gaza is likely an informational war tactic, but it is a goal desired by both Israel and the US.
The historical overview of this plan is important to understand before analyzing why the US and Israel would want such deployment.
In all conflicts initiated by imperialist forces, the occupying powers have always tried to use local proxies.
They provide the occupation forces with a native mask.
In Vietnam it was the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), in Afghanistan the Northern Alliance, in Lebanon it was the South Lebanon Army, and in Syria the Free Syrian Army.
There are always some locals willing to side with the invaders.
This is nothing new.
In most instances the native mask failed to provide the external attacking force with the desired political outcome.
Consider what happened to US proxies in Afghanistan after the Americans fled in August 2021.
The US-NATO proxy forces disintegrated and their foreign-backed warlords fled the country.
Does anybody remember Ahmed Massoud (son of the slain Tajik warlord Ahmed Shah Massoud) or the Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum or even know where they are these days?
One of the very few modern conflicts where the native mask worked was in Chechnya.
This was partly because the pro-independence forces were co-opted and lost popular support and partly because Moscow gave significant local autonomy to its proxies.
Hamas is not losing support and even some well informed Israelis admit that it is impossible to defeat the Islamic resistance movement.
Currently, the deployment of Arab forces as an Israeli-US proxy force in Gaza is unlikely.
Even if they are deployed, the result will backfire dramatically at the regional level.
The primary reason why the US plan to “Arabize” the conflict in Gaza will fail is because the liberation of Palestine is the central political cause of the Muslim Ummah.
There is complete clarity among people in the region that Israel should not be supported in any way.
This is precisely the reason why the US and its surrogates have spent decades keeping unelected dictators in power in the Arab world.
Any time there is some form of electoral politics, public pressure will force regional governments to confront apartheid Israel.
In every country in the region where there is some form of electoral political process, anti-zionist socio-political forces dominate or have significant say in how Israel should be viewed and dealt with.
This can be seen in Türkiye, Iraq and Lebanon, for instance.
The presence of armed forces subservient to US-backed regional dictators in Gaza will turn Palestine into a hot domestic political issue.
It will propel the Palestinian issue onto the domestic political landscape in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
It is evident that this issue is viewed very differently by the people of Arab countries and the western-backed dictatorial regimes.
This phenomenon will provide the Axis of Resistance which secured its regional prestige due to ongoing events in Gaza, to exert significant pressure domestically on western-backed Arab dictators.
The Axis of Resistance currently does not enjoy such clout.
The mission of Arab dictatorial regimes’ military forces will be to implement the US-zionist agenda.
Such deployment will not be viewed favorably by Palestinians and thus lack legitimacy.
The US-backed Arab regimes understand that this will create major political problems for them domestically.
Since clinging to power is their primary goal, they will likely avoid such a gamble.
If they do not, Arab Spring 2.0 will arrive sooner than expected.