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UAE's Israel Olive Branch Punches a Wall through Decades of Arab Intransigence

(Telegraph-UK) Dr. Einat Wilf - The agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is the first peace deal that holds the prospect of being and feeling like true peace. Israel has had peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan for several decades. But it is now clear that these were little more than mutual non-aggression pacts. Egypt and Jordan took every opportunity to make it clear that they have no interest in friendly relations with Israel beyond security cooperation. There has been no broad-based economic cooperation, no open tourism or cultural exchange. Worse, Egypt and Jordan, in their desperate intent to signal that they are not Israel's friends, have become their sworn enemies in international forums, spearheading various anti-Israel resolutions. Egypt has been for decades the number one producer and purveyor of hard-core anti-Semitic content to the Arab world. Then along comes the UAE, proposing a relationship with an Arab country resembling what we have always imagined peace should be. The entire tone is one of warmth. Yes, ongoing relations between the UAE and Israel have been an open secret for some time, but the decision to "put a ring on it" matters greatly. The UAE is punching a massive hole through the wall of decades of Arab "anti-normalization." This goes to the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict - the Arab and Islamic view that Israel is a foreign implant in the region that must be ejected. Normalizing relations, rather than an icy peace, is an acknowledgement that not only is Israel here to stay, but it belongs in the region. Those who continue to oppose "normalization" with Israel will appear increasingly as curmudgeons attached to historical irrelevance. The writer is a former Labor member of the Knesset.
2020-08-27 00:00:00
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