The protests in Tehran have resonated deeply among Palestinian and Israeli bloggers, who are not only looking outward at the events, but inward as well. The protests are seen not only as a wild card in their potential impact in the wider region, but also by some as a touchstone for reassessing how Palestinians and Israelis understand their own conflict.

Some Israeli peace activists see themselves in the Iranian struggle. Blogger and anti-occupation activist Joseph Dana writes on the blog Mondoweiss that despite the many differences between the Iranian and Israeli governments, “both countries’ national characters stress the bond between religion and state and are ideologically driven”, which leads to “oppressive” forms of governance: “The struggle that many young people are taking up against the current Iranian government regarding the election has never taken place in Israel.”

Similarly, the liberal Israeli-American blog Magnes Zionist critiques widespread public sympathy for Iranian protesters, which isn’t seen toward to anti-occupation protesters who demonstrate against Israeli military activity in the West Bank. To make his point, the blog’s author, who calls himself Jerry Haber, cites the similarities he sees between the Israeli and Iranian government actions: abuse of non-violent protesters, news blackouts, and disregard for election results. See his evaluation here.

Other Israeli bloggers, such as Daled Amos have been calling for Israelis to aid Iranian protesters as a way to rebuild ties with the Iranian public. He cites a column by the Jerusalem Post’s Caroline Glick, who argues that Israel should be using all means of communication to break the news blackout for Iranian citizens: “by acting as the loudest and first democratic champion of the protesters, Israel would catapult itself to the forefront of the campaign for democracy in the Muslim world. Doing so would make it far easier for Israel’s representatives throughout the world to defend against false accusations by self-described human rights organizations that Israel is a human rights abuser.”

 Among Palestinians, there seems to be a divide in the public’s interpretation of events. Some are predicting Palestinians will see the protests as a kind of Western conspiracy against Iran’s Islamist rulers, while others hope it can be a wake up call for Palestinians to also take to the streets in protest – specifically, against the blockade of Gaza and the political stalemate between their rival political parties.

In the Israeli-Palestinian e-zine Bitter Lemons, Palestinian contributor Ghassan Khatib argues that the Iranian government’s treatment of protesters and division in Tehran’s political and clerical leadership may hurt those Palestinians who have held Iran up as the model for an anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist, Islamic state. This may be bad news for Palestinian Islamist groups like Hamas: ‘As far as this issue is concerned, the damage is irreversible regardless of the outcome of the ongoing protests in Iran.’

Khatib’s Israeli counterpart, Yossi Alpher, says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aims may also be hurt in the wake of Iranian protests. It may be hard, Alpher argues, for Netanyahu to call for an ‘Iran first’ policy and cite anxieties about a possible Iranian nuclear threat as justification for putting off Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, now that Iran’s government has its hands full with its own internal political eruption.

In a contrasting take on Iran’s impact on Palestinian and Israeli politics, Middle East analyst Martin Kramer’s entry on his blog this week takes issue with Obama’s silence on Iran compared to his advocacy of a Palestinian state: “A smarter president would deploy the word “intolerable” not for the situation of the Palestinians … but for the repression in Iran, whose courageous young people genuinely crave support. A smarter president would tell the Palestinians that the United States can uphold its Middle East interests forever and a day without a ‘Palestine’, but that it’s willing to try if Palestinians show the grit and unity that statehood requires.”

Whatever the results are in Iran itself, the effect of the protests has reached far beyond the streets of Tehran.

PHOTOS: Damir Sagolj, Ahmed Jadallah. Reuters, Tehran, June 13, 2009.