As a peace activist, it is strange to do anything other than support any kind of peace treaty. But, this normalization agreement — what the Israeli government is trying to sell as a peace deal — forces us to remind ourselves what we actually mean by peace. An agreement in which the main profiters are arms industries and economic elites, and the losers are the people, is not a peace accord. It is a war agreement — of governments against the people.Why is Vardi against the agreement? Because, he says, it only profits arms dealers, and everyone else loses:
With this win-win-win for the arms industries, who loses out from it all? Given that the UAE is already using Israeli technologies to prevent dissent and opposition among their own citizens, and considering Abu Dhabi’s role in the war on Yemen, the real losers of this “normalization” are apparent: the people.In Jerusalem, the local loss is also apparent: firstly, Palestinians, who have just watched countries that have historically claimed to support their rights and independence sign a normalization agreement with their occupier.Secondly, Israelis, who are now in a second full COVID-19 lockdown amid a devastating economic recession, are having to watch their prime minister spend his time and energy on normalization agreements that have no effect on their daily life, and that profit only the upper echelons of Israeli society.
There is nothing "apparent" about the first paragraph at all. The UAEs astonishing modernization project of the past few decades has attracted huge numbers of workers from throughout the Middle East including as many as 100,000 Palestinians. There are challenges of having such a large expatriate population to be sure, but Arabs and others want to live in the UAE even without citizenship.
The second paragraph isn't true either, except the psychological issue of Palestinians having lived their entire lives in a bubble of free money from their Arab brethren with no responsibility towards their own future - and seeing that evaporate in an instant. Now they will have to live in the real world where their decisions have consequences and compromise becomes part of their vocabulary. That is not a loss - that is a huge gain for Palestinians and the entire world.
The third paragraph is so absurd, one wonders at the mentality of the author.
The Israel/UAE agreement is supported by the vast majority of Israelis. Seven decades of feeling alone under siege has been immensely lessened. The Arab boycott of Israel has resulted in Israel being more hawkish just to survive.
The signed and rumored business deals so far have not been limited to the arms industry, as Vardi ludicrously claims, but also medicine, cybersecurity, tourism and other industries that help ordinary people in both countries. It is the exact economic boost that will help the COVID-19 recession.
But the real point that is ignored by these hypocritical "peace activists" is the larger sea change in the Arab world towards Israel. Suddenly, Arabs in Lebanon and Syria and other antagonistic states are rethinking the wisdom of seven decades of pretending Israel will disappear because of their boycotts. The lose-lose mentality of doing everything necessary to try to hurt Israel has instead hurt Arabs far worse.
Moreover, in a single stroke, the toxic antisemitism of the Arab world has been reduced. Arabic media is interested in the history of Jews in the region. The agreement is like a pressure valve that has been loosened.
None of that means anything to hypocrites like Vardi and the other self-hating Israelis at +972. They continue with the hateful mindset that anything that benefits Israel must be opposed.
The only opponents to the deal are the jihadists, the Palestinian leaders who are losing their own gravy train of endless cash they can skim, and the "peace activists" like Sahar Vardi. That last group is reduced to writing insane pieces like this in +972 to justify their irrational hatred for Israel under new circumstances.