Why Arabs Abandoned The Palestinian Cause

 

Arabs abandon the Palestinian cause

Why Other Arabs Resent Palestinians - Dr. Mordechai Kedar

While many Arabs and Muslims hate Israel, a good many hate the Palestinians just as much. Many of the Palestinian Arabs are not originally Palestinians at all. They are immigrants who came to the Land of Israel from all over the Arab world during the British Mandate in order to find employment in the cities and on the farms the Jews had built. Why, ask the other Arabs, should they get preferential treatment over those who remained in their original countries?
    

At the end of the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, the politics in the Arab world began to center on Israel and the "Palestinian problem," the solution to which was to be achieved by eliminating Israel. In order to succeed in that mission, the Arab "refugees" were kept in camps and not absorbed into other Arab countries. They were provided with food, education, and medical care without charge, even as other Arabs had to work to provide food, education, and medical care for their own families. "Refugees" would often sell some of their free foodstuffs to their non-refugee neighbors and make a tidy profit.
    

Over the years, the Palestinian Arabs were given many billions of dollars by the nations of the world, so that the yearly per capita income in the PA is several times greater than that of the Arabs in Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen.
    

Much of the Arab and Muslim world is convinced that the Palestinians do not in fact want a state of their own. After all, if that state were established, the world would cease its steady donations and Palestinian Arabs would have to work just like everyone else.
The writer, a senior research associate at the BESA Center, served for 25 years in IDF military intelligence. 

(BESA Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University)

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Peace Has Come: The Abraham Accords

President Donald Trump, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The signing seals it!

Trump: Nations "Breaking Free from the Failed Approaches of the Past"

At the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the accords "open the door for Muslims around the world to visit the historic sites in Israel and to peacefully pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem....For generations, the people of the Middle East have been held back by old conflicts, hostilities...lies that the Jews and Arabs were enemies and that Al-Aqsa Mosque was under attack. Constantly, they would say it was under attack....These agreements prove that the nations of the region are breaking free from the failed approaches of the past."  

(White House)

Israeli Arabs See Opportunity in Accords - Shakib Ali 

    

Since the agreement with the UAE was announced, Israeli Arabs mostly talked about the possible economic, academic and tourism benefits it might bring.

    

Thanks to their language, education and religion, Israeli Arabs stand to be the main beneficiaries of the agreements. They can not only do business in the Gulf, but also travel and study there.

(Ynet News)

Netanyahu: Thank You for Bringing Hope to All the Children of Abraham

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the White House: "For thousands of years, the Jewish people have prayed for peace. For decades, the Jewish state has prayed for peace. And this is why today we're filled with such profound gratitude."
    

"I am grateful to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates and to you, Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed. I thank you both for your wise leadership and for working with the United States and Israel to expand the circle of peace. I am grateful to King Hamad of Bahrain and to you, Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, for joining us in bringing hope to all the children of Abraham....This is not only a peace between leaders, it's a peace between peoples - Israelis, Emiratis and Bahrainis are already embracing one another."  

(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Palestinians Fire Rockets at Israel during White House Ceremony

Palestinians in Gaza fired 13 rockets at Israel beginning during the White House ceremony where Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed agreements to establish diplomatic relations. As the rocket fire continued on Wednesday, 8 of the rockets were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system. In response, the IDF launched 10 air strikes on military targets in Gaza.

(Ynet News)

Peace. Shalom. Salaam - Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan

"Peace. Shalom. Salaam" was written in 2-foot-high letters in three languages on the side of the El Al aircraft that landed in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago. This message elevates opportunity and optimism over conflict and defeatism.
    

Non-Arab countries and a mob of non-state actors exist in a warped axis of perpetual resistance. They advocate one brand or another of extremism. They are nostalgic over lost empires or obsess over a new caliphate. The signing of the peace accord this week is a reminder that all the people of the Middle East are tired of conflict. The priority now is to continue to modernize our societies and to stabilize the broader region.
    

In the Emirates, we are committed to the true tenets of Islam - moderation, inclusion and peace. The Palestinian leadership should use this moment to reorganize its approach and prepare to re-engage in productive discussions. 

The writer is the United Arab Emirates minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation. 

(Wall Street Journal)

Israel Is Too Valuable to Be Treated as a Pariah - Walter Russell Mead

A tipping point seems to have been reached in the Middle East. Resentment of Zionism and sympathy for the Palestinians will no longer be allowed to interfere with what embattled Arab rulers see as a vital relationship. Geopolitically, conservative Arab states have long understood that their interests and Israel's are connected.
    

The more the U.S. withdraws from the region, the greater the value of Israel to the Sunni Arab world. Growing numbers of Arab leaders believe that Israel is the only country with both the will and the means to help the Arab world defend itself from regional threats. Beyond that, Israel is by any measure the most successful state in the Middle East with the most technologically advanced economy in the region.
    

The Arab rapprochement with Israel reflects a sober and serious response to realities that no Arab state can ignore. As a military and intelligence partner, as a diplomatic force multiplier, as a trading partner, as a source of investment and of development expertise, Israel is too valuable to the Arab world to be relegated to the status of a regional pariah. It has earned its place in the Middle East. 

The writer is professor of foreign affairs and the humanities at Bard College. 

(Wall Street Journal)

A Rare Middle East Triumph - Bret Stephens

As consequential as the peace deals between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain is the Arab League's refusal to condemn them. This is bad news for those Palestinian leaders and activists who think that they can somehow restore the status quo ante 1948, when Israel didn't exist.
    

Peace between Israelis and Arabs will not come from the inside out - from a deal between Jerusalem and Ramallah that wins over the rest of the Arab world. Decades of diplomatic failure should put an end to that fantasy. Peace might come from the outside in: from an Arab world that encircles Israel with recognition and partnership rather than enmity, and which thereby shores up Israel's security while moderating Palestinian behavior. 

(New York Times)

The Consequences of the Israel-UAE Peace - Shlomo Ben-Ami

The Middle East is changing, and the Arabs are accepting that Israel is a legitimate strategic player. The Palestinians, the supposed epicenter of the region's worries, have become a disposable cause. The Palestinians must recognize that they have brought this situation on themselves by their serial rejection of peace offers in the past. How could they assume that the Arab states would forever mortgage their national interests to fulfill the Palestinians' implausible expectations? 

The writer, a former Israeli foreign minister, is vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace. 

(Project Syndicate )

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And this blast from the past:
2016, John Kerry, Obama's Secretary of State

John Kerry 2016

Time for Palestinians to Wave the White Flag

 

The Conflict Is Over - Daniel Pipes, PhD 

In the wake of the exhilarating joint UAE-Israel statement, that old sourpuss, Hanan Ashrawi, emerged from her hole to pronounce that "There is an erroneous assumption that the Palestinians are defeated, and they have to accept the fact of their defeat." No, she insisted, "The Palestinians are willing, generation after generation, to continue their struggle."

Now, some may wonder: Didn't Yasir Arafat long ago accept Israel, was that not the gist of the 1993 Oslo accords, when he recognized "the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security"? No, he only pretended to accept Israel.

The realistic view – now dominant in Israel – holds that Palestinians never reconciled themselves to Israel's existence. To be sure, Palestinians acknowledged their weakness in 1993 by making empty promises. But, as Mrs. Ashrawi reiterates, they never abandoned the goal of eliminating Israel.

Rather, they bided their time, probing for signs of weakness. They seemed to find these in the Oslo accords, Israel's 2000 retreat from Lebanon and 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. Exhilarated, Palestinians ramped up the violence, believing they had a fatigued Israel on the run, that pure revolutionary fervor made up for economic and military weakness, that Muslims would annihilate Jews.

With time, Israelis – and youths far more so than their elders – realized that the hopeful discarding of deterrence in favor of appeasement and then unilateral withdrawal inspired not Palestinian goodwill but dreams of conquest. Israelis finally understood they had failed to perceive the continued Palestinian determination to eliminate the Jewish state; that they had ignored the persistent Palestinian drive for victory.

This hard-earned insight now needs to be translated into a new strategy. But which? Not "price tag" attacks on West Bank Palestinians, foul provocations that discredit Zionism. Not annexing parts of the West Bank, which undermines the integrity of Israel and spurs widespread opposition.

Rather, it is achieved by crushing the Palestinians' persistent anti-Zionist dream, by an Israel victory based on an indominable Israeli will. Palestinian insistence on victory, in other words, compels a parallel Israeli retort. Fortunately for Israel, the Palestinians lack muscle but rely on fumes: religious doctrine, international support, and Israeli timidity.

While naïfs seek yet more useless agreements premised on counterproductive Israeli concessions, we realists scoff and call for Israel to win. We understand that only defeat will convince Palestinians like Mrs. Ashrawi, and through them Iranian, Turkish, Islamist, leftist, fascist, and other anti-Zionists, that the century-plus conflict is over, that Israel has prevailed, and that the time has come to give up on futile, painful, and genocidal ambitions.
[Washington Times]
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