The Gulf States Already Have Links with Israel
Should the Gulf countries maintain contacts with Israel if this would make life easier for Palestinians? Could having such ties propel the Middle East peace process forward?
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr, prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, spoke on al-Jazeera recently about last winter's Israeli war on Gaza. Noting that the Turks were able to deliver emergency goods to the Palestinians immediately, he said, "I would have been glad if Egypt had done the same," alluding to the fact that both counties have ties to Israel. He then added, "Everyone was asking us to shut the Israeli Commercial Office in Doha and we have done so. Show me now how this will benefit the peace process?" It could be argued that such commercial ties with Israel allowed Qatar in the past to donate $6 million to finance the building of the Sakhnin soccer stadium, which is mostly used by Arab Israelis.
The open secret is that all six Gulf countries maintain contacts with Israel and some have open commercial interests. Officials as senior as the current Israeli president himself have visited Oman and Qatar on various occasions. In fact, not too long ago a Gulf official asked me for contacts in the Israel Foreign Ministry (which I did not have). It was a very casual request, like introducing a potential business partner.
We now know that these ties exist thanks to the Internet, the ultimate taboo- and myth-breaker of the Arab world. For instance, I have over the past few years received via email photographs of former and current Gulf foreign ministers with Israeli officials, mostly Shimon Peres during his time as foreign minister of Israel. There is also a popular YouTube video of a Gulf ruler and his foreign minister meeting with then Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni; the Gulf ruler gestures to the TV crew accompanying her to stop filming. As recently as a few years ago such a video would have not been seen at all, now it has thousands of viewers.
Der Spiegel uncovered the clearest example of Israeli rapprochement with the Arab Gulf states in early July when it reported that Israel voted for the UAE to host the International Renewable Energy Agency headquarters. The German journal attributed this to Israel wanting to build closer relations with the Gulf States. That strategy could be working: recently, five Bahraini citizens who were caught by Israel on board a ship were promptly handed over to an official visiting delegation from the island kingdom.
The Gulf States' boldest step to normalize ties with Israel came from none other than Saudi Arabia: King Abdullah's peace plan promises full normalization rather than a cold Egypt-style peace with Israel if an agreement with the Palestinians is reached. Additionally, Bahrain's foreign minister last year suggested that the Middle East countries form a regional organization that includes Israel and Iran. In recent months, the United Arab Emirates allowed an Israeli tennis player, Andy Ram, to play in a WTP tournament held in the country. Previously, Israel Central Bank Governor David Klein visited the UAE in 2003 for World Bank and IMF meetings. Even conservative Kuwait recently witnessed a call by a candidate for the country's parliament to establish relations with Israel.
What ties the Gulf states to Israel are mutual suspicions of the Iranian nuclear program. They also fear that a potential Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear installations could have serious repercussions for the Gulf states in economic, environmental and security terms. In contradiction to western media reports that the Gulf states have acquiesced in an Israeli strike, it is more likely that they would employ their contacts with Israel (and the US) to highlight the serious fallout of such a move. After all, the two Gulf countries with the closest links to Israel (via its former commercial representative offices there), Oman and Qatar, also happen to have the closest relations with Iran among all six Gulf states.
It is naive to think that simply having relations with Israel would make a difference to the peace process; some say it is counterproductive to reward the current hard-line Israeli government whose latest blunder is to insist that Arabic place names in Israel be rendered so as to present the Hebrew language equivalent (e.g., al-Quds becomes Yerushalayim, rendered in Arabic). However, it is equally naive to think that such ties don't already exist, no matter how vehemently the Gulf states deny it.
Bahrain's progressive crown prince recently highlighted the importance of communicating with Israel in an op-ed in the Washington Post. Clearly, the Gulf states can no longer be involved passively in perpetual peace processes that fail. One step they can take is to appoint a high-level peace envoy whose sole duty is to monitor and encourage, diplomatically and financially, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. What are needed now are practical steps that can finally improve the prospects for peace and dignified living for the Palestinians. If having ties with Israel can achieve that, then few Gulf citizens will condemn their governments.
Originally published on Bitterlemons International on July 23 2009.
Follow Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sultanalqassemi
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"the current hard-line Israeli government whose latest blunder is to insist that Arabic place names in Israel be rendered so as to present the Hebrew language equivalent"
This is an excellent example of a criticism of Israeli policy written so as not to raise the hackles of jews worldwide. Criticizing the 'current hard-line Israeli government', as opposed to simply 'Israel', within the context of an article devoted to showcasing the existing and possible future economic ties between the gulf states and israel allows the possibility of debate, acceptance and progress. Sultan, thanks for displaying such sensitivity in your article.
"This is an excellent example of a criticism of Israeli policy written so as not to raise the hackles of jews worldwide"
did you read any editorials in MSM about i.ran they follow the same pattern, some of the HP bloggers like cooper do the same too....
Israel has it within its power to bring peace to the region; they have only to decide to stop expropriating more and more Arab lands every year. Since Israel doesn't need most of the the land from outside its borders that it insists on taking, one is forced to wonder what motivations are at work within the country that prevent them from stopping their expansion. Obviously, the ultra-right-wing Israeli religious groups are utterly opposed to peace with the Arabs, and that is a real problem. The rest of the world wants peace in the region, but Israel's ears do not listen.
I just received a world map from *Medecins sans Frontieres* and I looked up how large Israel is in relation to Arab land with all its enormous *expropriations*. I was surprised to see that Israel is too small to be pictured. We see the name, in small print. Arab lands, on the other hand, are enormous. I took a good look at the map and saw several borders. I asked myself, a.o., how Palestinians came to be in Iraq - remember they were expelled from there about two years ago - . It occurred to me that they must have gone to live there via an Arab country. Iraq borders Saudi Arabia on the right. Syria and Jordan border Saudi Arabia on the Northwest. Palestinians are Arabs, are they not? Jordan has a plan, or is already implementing, revoking Palestinians' passports, saying they are NOT Palestine, but Jordan. I guess all these countries need much more territory, for some reason. Mamacat has been taking a very, very long nap. What motivates Israel is that giving up territory leads to more attacks, not peace, as is clear from the evacuation out of Gaza.
Query:
So you admit that Israel is a Jewish dominion and not a real democracy? You concede that Israel intends to build an empire that purges so-called "Greater Israel" of enough Muslims and Christians to give them supremacy?
So this is the All Semites Should Have Equal Land Mass argument? I like it. It's new and fresh and beats the worn out god gave it to us argument.
During the last elections in Israel many moderates and even some liberals voted for a change. That was in response to the constant attacks out of Gaza and Lebanon, plus the threatening sounds Ahmadinejad was making. Mamacat states that Palestinians want Peace. She is mistaken if the latest utterances out of the PA and the contstant utterances out of Gaza are indicators of what Palestinians want. What they want is all of Israel, and Israel wiped off the map, as does Iran. It is not a secret. It can be read and heard everywhere. There are illegal Beduin settlements in Israel, and there are many legal and illegal Paletinian residents in Israel, some of whom have Israeli citizenship and some of whom do not. Hamas in Gaza is slowly, but surely, implementing Sharia law, even for non muslim Palestinians. Palestinians who are christians, or not muslims, are driven out of PA areas. Sharia law is not compatible to the cultures of non muslims, and will not lead to peace.
Hamas and the PLO/PA have continuous problems getting along and agreeing on anything.Gaza residents are to a large extent Egyptians.Gaza belonged to Egypt, before it belonged to Israel,and then became *independent*.If one looks at the map it appears that it would be more rational to give Gaza some territory both in Egypt and Northwest Arabia,and separate status from the PA.The PA could then get a little more territory from Jordan,and some from Southern Lebanon.Both territoriess could be autonomous and independent from each other.IF one googled the respective countries one can see that the population densities of both Jordan and Saudi arabia are very low. Plenty of space,therefore,for the Palestinians.Israel wants Peace,relations with the Arab nations and trade with those countries,including flyover routes.Netanyahu has proposed a developmental plan for the Palestinians which would benefit the Palestinians.Arab countries are Arab and muslim.There is no reason why Israel can not be Israeli and jewish.In Israel that would NOT exclude the rights of other religions to exist and practice their religions and cultures.The responses from both the PA and Gaza have been published to that idea.For there to be PEACE people should respect each other.There is little reason why jews and muslims (Israeli and Arabs) could not respect each other.In fact Islam and Judaism, as well as the cultures,and food restrictions,fasts, are practically identical.
Observation:
This argument will make more sense only when countries other than Israel manage to score child casualties rates in excess of a hundred per week. Right now Israel still holds that record in the region.
Just recently there has been an initiative from some Israelis to get data of customs of the Arabs residing in Israel, and to their surprise there were many who had customs similarly to jewish customs such as lighting candles for the Sabbath.The Muslims do it both on Thursday and Friday, however.There have also be genetic studies,and it appears that some Palestinians and Isrtaelis have identical genetical markers.Then there have been comments from some Palestinians that only during the last century or so they had become Muslims.I have had discussions privately with a number of Muslims, a.o. from the far East, and both parties knew that we have customs and beliefs in common.We need to focus on our commonalities rather than on our differences.We must seek to better our own destinies by cooperating and bettering others' destinies as well.We must also root out finding and accepting excuses for murder,genocide,lies and deceit.It can not be accepted,certainly not by those who believe in law,those who believe in the Bible (Qu'ran).The ME is an Arab problem and it is up to Arabs to solve it.Terrorism the world over is also an Arab problem, as it is Arabs who execute the attacks,in Pakistan,in India,in Africa.The religious and cultural reasoning/arguments needed to stop it is best known to muslims and Arabs.
Extreme Post Spamming to Hijack Debate.
Noted.
Query:
Where are the moderators? This is the fourth reply to the same thread by this poster.
For reasons that escape me, it appears that there will be more money to be made peacefully co-existing than in making war. A new generation has begun to exert itself. Cross your fingers, folks. Good times may be on the way.
"no matter how vehemently the Gulf states deny it."?
No link? Who? When?
For home consumption vs. international?
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