The author is an Israeli American, author of The General's Son on Bookshare.
Miriam
FROM THREE NO'S TO YES PLEASE
Why Arab Leaders Are Suddenly Groveling at the Chance to Normalize Ties with
Israel
Arab leaders understand that relations with Israel provide access to US
Empire and all that comes with it, including much desired US-made weapons
and other perks such as security and economic cooperation.
by Miko Peled
September 17th, 2020
By Miko Peled
As these words are being written, the foreign ministers of the United Arab
Emirates and Bahrain are in Washington DC to sign agreements to normalize
relations between their countries and the state of Israel. While the United
States and Israel were represented by President Donald Trump and Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Arab states sent their foreign ministers to
represent their countries at the signing ceremony. This may have less to do
with protocol and more to do with the fact that both Trump and Netanyahu are
fighting for their political lives and for them, this was a much needed
public relations stunt.
Today's spectacle was a far cry from the resolute, principled, and
courageous stance that was presented by Arab leaders in Khartoum almost
exactly 53 years ago. In the aftermath of the Israeli assault on Arab lands
in 1967, even as the gun barrels were still smoking, a meeting of the heads
of the Arab states was convened in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. This
meeting brought about a courageous resolution that said no to recognition,
no to negotiations, and no to peace with Israel. The Arab armies of Egypt,
the largest of all the Arab states, Syria and Jordan were demolished
completely, close to 18,000 Arab soldiers were killed and hundreds of
thousands of civilians were made homeless, and yet the leaders of the Arab
states stood and said, "no" to the mighty aggressor, Israel.
The resolution of the Arab states to reject the brutal apartheid regime of
Israel was accepted in August of 1967, at the Arab League summit just two
months after Israel had decimated the armies of three Arab states and had
violently taken the Golan Heights from Syria, the Sinai Peninsula from
Egypt, and had completed the conquest of Palestine by taking the West Bank,
East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
That resolution, which later became known as the "Three No's," is still used
by Zionist propagandists to demonstrate the Arab states' unwillingness to
make peace with Israel, and recognize the so-called Jewish State. However,
in light of the deadly Israeli assault on these countries, their
unwillingness to capitulate was heroic. What is unfortunate, however, is the
success of the Zionist movement to reverse the Arab commitment to Palestine.
Step by step, starting with the largest Arab state, Egypt, then Jordan, and
now with the Gulf States and even Sudan, the Arab regimes have been
"normalizing" relations with Israel.
Khartoum Summit
Heads of Arab states are seated around the table at a session of their
Summit meeting in Khartoum, Sudan, Aug. 30, 1967. Photo | AP
Access to the empire
If one could imagine themselves as the head of an Arab state just for a
moment, what would that be like? One would see that the Arab countries that
were steadfast in their support of the Palestinian cause are now destroyed.
Starting with Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. The punishment for those who
did not capitulate willingly was severe. Further afield is Iran, and while
for the moment it is safe from an all-out military attack, mostly because
the U.S. and Israel are incapable of facing the Iranian forces head-on, it
is suffering greatly from severe sanctions.
Relations with Israel provide access to much desired U.S.-made weapons and
other perks such as security and economic cooperation. As a leader of an
Arab state, what choice would one make? Commentators on CNN repeatedly said
that the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain, and possibly other Arab states that
will be normalizing relations with Israel soon, decided to put the
Palestinian issue behind them and focus on other issues like economic
cooperation, tourism, and to place the needs and indeed the future of their
own countries ahead of the Palestinian issue.
It is easy to criticize the Arab states for turning their back on their
Palestinian brothers and sisters. However, larger and more influential
countries are no different. Russia, the European Union, China, and India all
conduct a great deal of business with Israel and have long since forgotten
about the Palestinians. Israel has successfully taken the Palestinian issue
off the world stage. Regardless of how often Israel attacks Gaza or how
viciously it attacks, regardless of how many Palestinians are held in
Israeli prisons and how severe the conditions in which Palestinians live,
Israel succeeded in getting the world to look the other way.
The opposition
There have been reports about popular resistance in Bahrain by groups who
oppose the normalization of relations with Israel and rightfully see it as a
betrayal of the Palestinian people. The expectation is that these voices
will be silenced quickly by the Bahraini government.
Furthermore, Kuwaiti government sources announced that "Kuwait's position
towards Israel is unchanged after its accord with the United Arab Emirates."
Kuwaiti officials also denied Israeli flights to fly through Kuwaiti
airspace.
Sudan
Israel's attempts to build alliances go beyond the Arabian peninsula and
into Africa as well. The Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdokmet recently
met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who visited Sudan following a
trip to meet Israeli officials in Jerusalem. Israel was Pompeo's first stop
in a tour designed to convince more Arab countries to normalize ties with
the Zionist state. Furthermore, reports confirm that the US secretary of
State's visit to Khartoum was meant to discuss relations between Sudan and
Israel.
The Sudanese Prime Minister told Pompeo that his government "had no mandate
to normalize ties with Israel," and he added that the subject of lifting
Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list should not be linked to
normalizing ties with Israel. Clearly, removal from the State Sponsor of
Terrorism list is the carrot Pompeo is offering Sudan.
Sudan Israel
Pompeo stands with Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan in Khartoum, Sudan,
Aug. 25, 2020. Photo | Sudanese Cabinet via AP
Following the meeting, the U.S. State Department said in a statement that
Pompeo and Hamdok discussed "positive developments in the Sudan-Israel
relationship," which should come as no surprise. It is hard to imagine that
the Sudanese leadership can afford to refuse an offer from the U.S.,
certainly one as attractive as lifting the designation of State Sponsor of
Terrorism, which will open doors and allow for economic growth for the
African nation.
Now, let's return for a moment and imagine ourselves as the head of an
African or Arab nation. The choice is submission and relations with the
Israeli apartheid regime, which will lead to new economic possibilities, or
maintaining a firm, principled stance, and suffering destruction by war or
slow suffocation through sanctions.
