Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: normalization

Showing posts with label normalization. Show all posts

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Arab writer admits that Arab leaders only pretend to care about Palestinians for their own purposes

Writing in Alaraby, Hulmi al-Asmar writes that normalization maybe isn't so bad - that perhaps if Arab nations act nicely to Israel, Israel will implode from infighting since it is dependent on aggression.

Setting aside his main argument, al-Asmar gives a brief description of how Arab leaders have used the Palestinian issue for their own benefit, and how they have actually hurt the Palestinians with this cynical pretense.

For years, official Arab discourse used to murmur a heavy [Palestinian] "nationalist" sentiment, to the effect that "Palestine is the Arabs' top issue." From this slogan, a series of canned phrases emerged that affirmed standing by the Palestinian people and calling for their victory. Preachers filled the space with resonant speech in forums all over the world, and printed millions of pages with them. Books, poems, and commentaries were written about it, and they pulled their voices and roared their throats with enthusiastic songs. Millions of statements, and thousands of conferences and summits were also held, all of which threatened the enemy, or at least “confirmed its position in support of the Palestinian people, and their right to establish their independent state and defeat the occupation.” More than that, under the heading of “confronting the Zionist threat,” billions were spent on arming their armies, while morsels of bread were withheld from the mouths of the hungry, in preparation for the decisive battle with the “enemy” to build what they called “Arab national security,” and for that purpose legislation, emergency laws, and martial law were enacted. How can it not, when the nation is in a state of war and on constant alert? Therefore, there is no time for the luxury of “democracy,” nor for the “mockery” of elections, social justice, and other rights. This is not the time (!), as the nation is passing through a “delicate circumstance” and a “turning point.” It is a "dangerous time in history" and a "sensitive stage" that requires not paying attention to these "trivialities", and focusing effort on confronting "the enemy's plans" aimed at tearing apart the Arab ranks, and undermining "national dignity and nationalism!", etc., to the end of this series of great lies that may have passed on the minds of the "masses"... So what was the result?

Israel is expanding and strengthening every day, while Palestine is withering, and its nakba has been “Arabized” and reproduced. It was not limited to the Palestinian people, but the Arab regime produced other versions and more and revised versions of the Arab catastrophes, so that almost every Arab country has its own nakba.

This is stuff we've been saying for many years. It is rare indeed to see these words in Arabic:

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Saudis offer Palestinians symbolism while really wanting to use Israel and the US to strengthen their own leadership in the Middle East

Yesterday, Saudi diplomat Nayef al-Sudairi arrived in Ramallah as the Saudi envoy to the Palestinian Authority.

He did all the things skittish Palestinians want to see as they get increasingly nervous about a Saudi-Israel normalization deal that leaves them behind.

The position is called "ambassador" implying that Palestine is a real country.

Al-Sudairi visited Yasir Arafat's grave and placed a wreath on his tomb. He also visited the Yasir Arafat Museum.

He told Abbas at the official ceremony "God willing, this visit will be the beginning of strengthening more relations in all fields.”

He tweeted, "From the beloved state of #Palestine #Land_of_Canaan, the most beautiful greetings, coupled with the love of my Lord #the_Custodian_of_the_Two_Holy_Mosques and His Highness Sir #the_Crown_Prince."

But all of this pomp and ceremony is geared towards what Palestinians love the most: symbolism. They crave relevance and respect and often confuse those with actual gains.

For over a decade now, Palestinians have done nothing to advance peace or to make the lives of their people any better, but they celebrate anything that gives them apparent legitimacy. The official Wafa news agency is filled with press releases of Abbas sending or receiving congratulatory messages with real countries.

The Saudis have turned into world class politicians. They have skillfully managed relations with both China and the US, and they are doing the same between Iran and Israel. They are working hard to include Israel into their vision of an integrated Middle East that they lead. Their US ambassador Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud described their vision last July:

Her country envisions Israel belonging to an “integrated Middle East”.

In line with Saudi Vision 2030, the diplomat said that Riyadh desires a “thriving Israel” and a “thriving Palestine”, adding that “Vision 2030 talks about a unified, integrated, thriving Middle East, and last I checked Israel was there…we want a thriving Red Sea economy”.

Princess Reema stressed that Saudi Arabia’s focus is on integration, not normalisation, with Israel. “We don’t say normalisation, we talk about an integrated Middle East, unified [as] a bloc like Europe, where we all have sovereign rights and sovereign states, but we have a shared and common interest,” asserted the Saudi ambassador.

“So that’s not normalisation. Normalisation is you’re sitting there, and I’m sitting here, and we kind of coexist, but separately. Integration means our people collaborate, our businesses collaborate, and our youth thrive.”

The Saudis are smartly offering intangibles to Israel, the US and Palestinians to gain in exchange real physical benefits - a civilian nuclear program that could become the basis of a military nuclear program if Iran builds a nuclear weapon, a mutual defense pact with the US, and access to top-level military and intelligence technology.

The pretense of embracing Palestinian nationhood is mostly lip service so the Palestinians don't try to blow up normalization with Israel. Normalization with Israel is a carrot to get the US to provide the green light for the arms and civilian nuclear program (which also requires Israel's approval.) Acting warmly with China and Iran gives incentive for the US and Israel to not want to be left behind. And ultimately, Saudi Arabia wants a Middle East where it is the leader and major beneficiary of all commercial, political and even religious decisions.

Israel has to think long and hard about the costs and benefits of normalization. It shouldn't only look at the intangibles, because many of the tangible benefits of peace are already there. Israel is already meeting with Saudis, it is probably already sharing intelligence with Saudis, it is probably already trading with Saudis via the UAE. Saudi Arabia won't veto the proposed rail line that would speed up trade with Europe via Haifa if a full peace deal is not signed.

In may ways, Israel's vision of the Middle East dovetails with Saudi Arabia's. It just shouldn't be seduced by symbolism, the way the Saudis are doing with the Palestinians.

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Shiites in Bahrain threaten violence if normalization continues

The Iranian Tasnim News Agency reports:

The leader of the Islamic Al-Wafa Movement in Bahrain, Mr. Murtada Al-Sindi, affirmed that no one can guarantee the safety and stability of the Zionist entity in Bahrain.

On the implications and objectives of the visit of the Zionist entity's foreign minister, Eli Cohen, to Bahrain, the leader of the Islamic Al-Wafa Movement in Bahrain, Mr. Mortada Al-Sindi, said in a statement to the correspondent of Tasnim News Agency that the government chose its position in the struggle of the axes, and the people of Bahrain also determined their position, the government chose to be with the Zionists and a tail of Israel, while the people of Bahrain chose to be with the axis of resistance and the Palestinian cause.

Regarding the possibility of a popular resistance to the Zionist presence in Bahrain, he said, the natural reaction to the presence of the usurping entity in Bahrain is resistance and rejection, and the people of Bahrain are jealous and religious people, and all segments of Bahraini society and all sects of society have expressed their rejection of the Zionist presence, but no one guarantees that it [civil disobedience alone] will continue ...Matters are subject to escalation and may be manifested in resistance movements and factions to confront the bastard presence of the usurping Zionist entity of the holy land of Palestine.

He added that the violations and crimes committed by the Zionist entity against our brothers and loved ones in occupied Palestine turn into lava in the chests of our people, and this lava may erupt at any moment and turn into a movement of resistance to the Zionist presence in Bahrain, and no one can guarantee the Zionist entity's safety and stability in Bahrain. .

This is a threat of violence on Bahraini soil. But there is a little element of deniability, claiming that any such violence would be from regular Bahraini citizens who are fed up, not organized by Al Sindi's superiors in Iran.

Israel and Bahrain agreed to improve their trade ties today.

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It's happening again:

A delegation of top American officials is slated to travel to Riyadh this week to meet with Saudi counterparts in order to discuss a potential normalization agreement between the Gulf kingdom and Israel, a US official and a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

The visit by White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf will come just over a month after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Saudi Arabia with the same objective, pointing to Washington’s continued determination to broker an elusive deal. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also visited Riyadh on the same mission in June.

McGurk and Leaf’s visit will overlap with that of a Palestinian delegation led by Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee secretary-general Hussein al-Sheikh, who will be in Riyadh to discuss what Ramallah is hoping to obtain from a Saudi-Israeli normalization deal, the two officials said.

So the US is speaking to Saudi Arabia about conditions on Israel to accept a normalization deal.

The US is speaking to Palestinians about conditions on Israel to accept a normalization deal.

The Palestinians are speaking to the Saudis about conditions on Israel to accept a normalization deal.

Everyone is speaking to each other - about Israel, but not to Israel.

Are there backchannels from Israel to Saudi Arabia? Probably. Is the Israeli government in charge of these backchannels?

We have no idea.

But we do know that the Biden administration and the Palestinians are not keen to negotiate with Netanyahu, so my guess is that some Israeli peacenik organization is leading the backchannel negotiations with the intent to manipulate the Israeli government, not to appease it, about what strings would be attached to the deal.

Maybe I'm being a bit too sensitive after reading the Gidi Grinstein book I reviewed on Sunday and how a backchannel was used by the Israeli Left, the US and Palestinians to collude to bring down Netanyahu in his first term, but the impression I am getting is that a purpose of these negotiations may include finding a way to make the current coalition government fall, something that would being a sigh of relief to the Americans, the Palestinians and not a small number of Israelis.

Holding these meetings in Saudi Arabia is a convenient way to exclude Israeli officials who cannot officially travel to the kingdom. But all other negotiations between Israel and its erstwhile peace partners took place in neutral territory - Europe or the US.

Excluding Israel from these talks seems to be a way to marginalize the Jewish state and put it on its back foot when the offer is revealed - a deal that, it appears, will be all but imposed on Israel rather than one that Israel has a say in. If Israel refuses an offer backed by the US, Saudis and tacitly Palestinians it will look like an intransigent player who only pretends to want peace. If Israel accepts a bad deal, the government probably will fall.

It feels like deja vu.,

Most Israelis and Zionists would love to see Saudi normalization, myself included. Every new revelation makes me wonder if the price would be too high - especially when the major benefits of peace are already effectively there.

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Libya says it will quit international energy organizations that have Israel as a member. (They won't.)

The fallout in Libya of the discovery that Israeli and Libyan officials have been meeting secretly for years, and those officials denials, has prompted many other Libyans to pledge that they will never, ever, ever do anything that could be considered the slightest bit of normalization with Israel.

For example, the mayors of Libyan towns felt it was necessary to issue a statement that they "expressed their complete rejection of establishing any relationship of any kind with the criminal Zionist entity."

But perhaps the strangest announcement of people trying to out-Arab the Palestinians - who do indeed speak to Israeli officials - comes from the Libyan Ministry of Oil and Gas, which said

The Ministry of Oil and Gas announces its rejection of state officials calling joining organizations or forums attended by the Zionist entity or in which it is a member, especially in areas related to the oil and gas sector.

I don't know how many international energy organizations Israel is a member of, but Israel certainly has been a member of the World Petroleum Council for decades - and so is Libya, and Iran,.

All three are also members of the International Gas Union.

Is it really going to quit those organizations now? A Libyan boycott of these, and probably many more, international organizations that include Israel would only hurt Libya - it wouldn't affect Israel at all.

Moreover, Israel and Libya have both been members of these organizations for quite a while, and Libya never said a word against it - even though Libya's official laws rejecting normalization of Israel have been in force since 1957.

Just like the announcement of the mayors, this is all posturing. Libya was shamed by the foreign minister's meeting with her Israeli counterpart, and now they are scrambling to regain their "honor." Honor has nothing to do with reality - public declarations of solidarity with Palestinians mean much more than privately insulting them, or privately accpeting Israel's membership in these international organizations.

Put it this way - none of Israel's enemies have quit the UN yet despite Israel being a member.

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What does Israel gain from a Saudi normalization deal?

The US negotiations with Saudi Arabia over recognizing Israel looks more and more like using Israel as a pawn for a US-Saudi deal than anything that will have huge benefits for Israel.

The Saudis want from Washington a NATO-style defense pact and a civilian nuclear program. The Saudis want from Israel access to intelligence (which they probably already have indirectly), access to Israeli technology and investment opportunities there.

The US would get more leverage over the Saudis vis a vis their growing relationship with China, and for them not to abandon the US dollar as their currency. The US would prefer the Saudis be in their orbit than with BRICS (although normalization with Israel has not stopped the UAE from joining BRICS.) The Saudis would also give the US more military options in case of a war with Iran erupting.

While Israel would reap some benefits from normalization with Saudi Arabia, I don't think it adds up to much.

As I wrote on Twitter/X yesterday:

* There is already a cold peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and it is unlikely to get that much warmer with an agreement. The Saudis are not and are unlikely to become a military enemy of Israel.

* Israel can already sell things to the Saudis via the UAE if they want the products, with the exception of weapons and similar items. I'm sure that this trade already started a while ago.

* Saudi Arabia may be modernizing but it is still one of the most repressive, anti-human rights regimes on Earth. Anything bad they do will be used as ammunition against Israel.

* It isn't as if the Saudis would start suddenly voting against anti-Israel resolutions at the UN and dragging the rest of the Arab world with them.

* Only a small percentage of Saudis would visit Israel, and that would almost all be to Al Aqsa.

* Speaking of, the Saudis almost certainly want influence over the Temple Mount to add to their control of the top two Sunni Islamic holy sites. This could adversely affect Israel's relations with Jordan.

* If Iran started a war in the region that threatened the Saudis, Israel would help them out regardless. Covertly, but certainly.

* Joint projects and investments would be nice, but they would benefit the Saudis more than the Israelis.

The Abraham Accords was a game-changer. It broke the united Arab front against Israel. It gave Israel an economic and political foothold in the Gulf, bolstered by Bahrain.

What more would a Saudi deal give to Israel? I don't see huge advantages for Israel, especially when the US is dangling the Saudis as a means to restrict Israeli actions.

Not that there are no advantages t Israel at all - of course there are. It would be very nice if the Israeli and Saudi air force could cooperate and practice together, and engage in war games against an Iranian threat. Normalization would solidify the idea that there is no going back in the Arab world to the days when Israel was a pariah. Open trade would benefit both parties. But these are nice-to-haves, not must-haves.

The US is taking it for granted that the Israelis are salivating over a deal. President Herzog said to Congress that Israel prays for such a deal. But I simply don't see what Israel would get from it that they aren't getting now, or wouldn't get in case of an emergency.

Both the Saudis and the Americans are negotiating with the idea that Israel needs no prodding to join any deal. Israel needs to signal that it expects some additional concrete benefits, from both Washington and Riyadh, to join in. Because as of now, it looks like the Americans and Saudis would gain more from such a deal than Israel would.

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Report of Saudi demands for negotiations on normalization with Israel appears to be Palestinian psy-ops, not real

Arabic media are publishing a supposed list of four Saudi demands in order for the kingdom to start negotiations to recognize Israel.

Private sources reported that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia desires strong political, economic, security and social relations with Israel that include all kinds of cooperation with friendly countries and the establishment of an unprecedented partnership in all fields.

For this, the Kingdom needs security and political guarantees before starting serious negotiations on the form of the relationship. Therefore, the Saudi National Security Council set four conditions for starting real negotiations under the auspices of the United States of America, which are:

1- The United States agrees to sell the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 50 F-35 aircraft, without banning any of the types of advanced capabilities it has, like Israel.

2- The United States of America agrees to complete the sale and construction of 5 nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes.

3- Israel's agreement to subject its nuclear reactors to be under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Commission, and agreement of a Middle East region free of nuclear weapons.

4- Israel should stop weakening the Palestinian National Authority and return to the negotiating table in order to achieve peace and stability in the region.

The only places these were published were Palestinian media, so the list is a little suspect.

Beyond that, these are pre-conditions before any negotiations, and from that perspective they seem absurd - the US giving advanced weapons in exchange for talks that could go nowhere? Israel being forced to make major concessions before any negotiations even start?

And one more thing: The Saudi National Security Council was dissolved in 2015.

This looks like a Palestinian psy-ops attempt to pressure the Saudis to demand more concessions from Israel on the Palestinian issue, as there is a real (and founded) fear among Palestinians that they will be only an incidental part of any normalization plan.

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Yes, there was a Saudi consulate in Jerusalem before 1948

Haaretz reports:

Saudi Arabia’s appointment of its first ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, who will also serve as consul general to Jerusalem, was not coordinated with Israel, and Israeli diplomatic figures are struggling to gauge its implications for the efforts to normalize relations with the kingdom.

Senior Israeli officials said Sunday that Riyadh’s weekend announcement that the Saudi Ambassador to Jordan, Nayef bin Bandar Al-Sudairi, will henceforth also serve as the kingdom’s nonresident ambassador to the Palestinian Authority and consul general in Jerusalem, created facts on the ground for Israel and was not preceded by a dialogue between the countries on the issue.

The only Israeli official to comment Sunday on the Saudi announcement was Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who stated in an interview with Radio 103FM that Israel “will not allow the opening of any kind of diplomatic mission.”

His remark is based on Israel’s official policy for decades of not permitting the opening of diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, with the exception of those that operated in the city before 1948 in the western part and before 1967 in East Jerusalem. Since Saudi Arabia is not planning at this stage to establish a new diplomatic mission in the city, the appointment does not violate Israeli policy.

So if Saudi Arabia had no consulate before 1948 in Jerusalem, Israel wouldn't allow one now.

However, al-Sudari then tweeted a photo of a Saudi consulate in Jerusalem from 1947! The signs indeed say "Saudi Arabian Consulate of Palestine."

Under the guidance of His Majesty the late King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman in 1947, Uncle Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al-Sudairy sponsored the opening of the Saudi Consulate General in Jerusalem (Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood).

Indeed, there was a Saudi consulate in Jerusalem, since about 1940. Here is a Palestine Post article that mentions it and the consul general's name in January 1945.

They aren't asking for a consulate at this point, but if Israel's official policy listed above is accurate, then things might get interesting - and not just vis a vis the Saudis, but also the Biden administration as well that wants to open up a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem as well. Even if Israel allows the Saudis to do this in some fashion as part of the deal for normalization, it would have a hard time saying "no" to the US.

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A surprising number of Arab youth in the UAE, Egypt and even Algeria(!) support normalization with Israel

From reading the media, the impression one gets is that while Arab governments are considering the benefits of closer relations with Israel, the populations are completely against it.

It turns out that this is not exactly true.

The 2023 Arab Youth Survey mentions that nearly 17% of Gulf citizens and 11% of North African youth now see Israel as a strong ally or somewhat of an ally of their country, and notes that "these modest approval ratings would have been unthinkable several years ago."

The most surprising results come from when Arab youth were asked how strongly they support their government's normalizing relations with Israel.

Among the Abraham Accords countries, there was strong support from the UAE youth, with 75% supporting normalization. For Morocco it was 50%, while it was only 30% in Bahrain and a mere 3% in Sudan.

More interesting were the results from other Arab countries.

An incredible 73% of Egyptian youth support normalization with Israel, which is a complete surprise for anyone who monitors Egyptian media that is virtually unanimous in opposing Israel.

47% of South Sudan youth want to see normalization, along with 39% of youth in Oman.

Even more astonishing is the attitudes of youth in other Arab countries.

Fully 31% of Algerian youth support normalization, at a time when its media is among the most antisemitic - and hugely against Morocco's relations with Israel.

Also surprising is that 19% of Syrian youth want to see normalization with Israel - and in Yemen, 19% strongly support such normalization.

These are numbers that simply would be inconceivable in years past.

Yet in Jordan, which is benefitting from ties to Israel in deals to provide the kingdom with much-needed water and natural gas, only 6% of youth want to see normalization with Israel.

And 100% of Palestinian youth never want to see normalized relations with Israel.

The survey includes this eye-opening graphic:

With the notable exception of Egypt, the countries that are the most antisemitic tend to also be the countries whose youth most reject ties with Israel.

The media has once again dropped the ball on reporting from the Arab world. There are real consequences and policy decisions that can be made based on these results, but the people whose jobs are to analyze these sorts of trends are clueless and instead parrot what "everyone knows."

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BDSers eating their own

Haaretz reports:

Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi...canceled last Monday’s scheduled performance at Fattoush Bar in Haifa, in wake of a BDS media campaign against her. “We call upon Tunisians and Arabs, and all Palestine supporters around the world, to boycott Emel Mathlouthi, all her music and all her shows,” the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement activists had written.

Last Thursday, Mathlouthi posted on her Facebook page a statement rejecting the claims by BDS alleging that she was “normalizing the occupation by cultural means.” She noted that the Palestinian issue is a top priority for her, as evidenced in her songs, positions and personal statements. Nonetheless, her scheduled performance in Haifa sparked controversy on social media, and the pressure from BDS had its intended effect.

“In wake of the controversy raised by the concert tour in the Palestinian territories, and in order to avoid misunderstandings, we’ve decided not to go ahead with the performance in the occupied city of Haifa, even though the place (Fattoush Bar) is under Palestinian ownership,” she wrote.

The attack on the singer elicited fierce discussion on social media by young Palestinians who objected to BDS’ position. Activist Athir Ismail wrote on Facebook: “I am a Palestinian. And I want to speak about what I want without someone from outside watching me and telling me how to fight and how to live.”

Ismail directed her criticism at BDS activists living abroad whose calls for boycotts end up affecting Palestinians who live in Israel. “What do you know about our life here aside from what you see and hear on the news?” she asked. “You cast doubt on our Palestinian identity and act like a man who thinks he has to explain to a woman what she can and can’t do in her fight against toxic masculinity, what’s permitted and what’s forbidden.”

Artist Haya Zaatry from Nazareth also criticized BDS’ actions: “Preventing or canceling a musical performance by an Arab artist in an independent Palestinian space in Haifa only heightens the cultural embargo in which we (Palestinian citizens of Israel) live, and this is a bad and dangerous thing.”

The BDS movement is dominated by privileged white people who falsely claim to be doing what Palestinians want them to do, and when self-described Palestinians tell them they are wrong, they ignore them.

Mathlouthi did end up performing in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah - and those concerts, for some reason, were considered "normalization" with Israel:

A Tunisian singer who rose to prominence during the Arab spring uprisings announced Wednesday an upcoming show in Tunisia had been cancelled for supposed “normalisation” with Israel.

Mathlouthi, 41, had been set to perform at the Hammamet International Festival in Tunisia next week.

“I am very sorry to announce our much awaited concert in Hammamet has been cancelled with no official reason,” Mathlouthi said in a statement posted on Instagram.

“We believe that our latest tour in beautiful Palestine has sparked an unjustified controversy accusing me of normalisation.”

The best possible anti-Israel spokesperson - attractive, talented, and immensely popular - is being canceled for being insufficiently anti-Israel.

When a movement is built on hate, it eventually falls apart because the members start hating each other for not hating enough.

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Morocco op-ed expresses anger at Palestinians

Moroccan choosing to care more about Gaza and Taza, a city in Morocco

Palestinians have been insulting Morocco for normalizing relations with Israel.

An op-ed in the mainstream Morocco Hespress news site lashes back at them, in ways that are still rare in Arabic language media:

It talks about how Palestinians made Arab nations feel guilty for allowing them to lose in 1948 and not destroying Israel since then:

This complex was copied by the Arab nationalists to the fullest extent, and they made the Arab peoples responsible for the loss of Palestine from the Gulf to the ocean, the holocaust of the Palestinian people, everyone who did not contribute to the liberation of Palestine or did not show support for the struggle of the Palestinians or showed signs of fatigue or abandonment is thrown with the lowest epithets and boycotted and considered an enemy of the cause. What is the fault of the Moroccans in the tragedy of the Palestinians?

The Palestinians are the ones who sold their property before the British Mandate, and they are the ones who fled from the Jews at intervals and sought refuge in the countries of the Levant, and they are the ones who drummed and honked for Gamal Abdel Nasser, who drugged the Arabs with the illusion of liberating Palestine and was defeated in a humiliating war with his Arab brothers in Jordan and Syria. All that happened was not caused by the Moroccans, whether from near or far.

In the summer of 1967, we, the boys of the Borj Omar neighborhood in the city of Meknes, were organizing gangs armed with sticks and slingshots and traveling six kilometers to attack the Jews in Al-Mallah. Who was inciting us? Who was organizing us into gangs? Why weren't the authorities getting in our way or punishing us? There is no doubt that the Arab defeat mixed with religious feeling was the only motive for our criminality.

There is a bad neighbor next to us [Algeria], one of the ugliest creations of history, threatening our country in terms of its geography, history and heritage, and slandering us with lies and incitement every day and every hour. Is there an issue more dangerous than threatening our existence?

If the Palestinians are unable to help us in this ordeal of ours, let them be neutral and let the Moroccans defend themselves by all means, and not choose these means for us according to their taste, mood, and interests.

The only problem is that this op-ed is (probably unintentionally) antisemitic, comparing the Western feeling of guilt over the Holocaust with the guilt that Palestinians have instilled in Arab people for their "nakba."

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European Union think tank seems think the Abraham Accords are a mistake

From the EUISS webpage:

The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) is the Union’s Agency analysing foreign, security and defence policy issues. Its core mission is to assist the EU and its member states in the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as well as other external action of the Union.

One would think that the EUISS' analyses would be in line with mainstream EU thinking.

Last year, Algeria hosted a forgettable Arab League summit. The EUISS used this as a springboard to evaluate how well and how poorly the League of Arab States (LAS) does what it was meant to do - avoid intra-Arab wars, for example.

But one of its threads of analysis was quite concerning:

The LAS has lost credibility in recent decades due to the weakness of its institutional mechanisms,and its failure to translate the lofty statements of its leaders into action. The inability to take a united stance on the Palestinian issue, when several Arab leaders decided to normalise relations with Israel, is probably its most profound failure, especially given that an overwhelming majority of 88% of Arab citizens disapprove of their governments’ recognition of Israel, and only 6% accept a formal diplomatic recognition.

It sure sounds like the EUISS is saying that a unified Arab consensus against even recognizing Israel is far preferable to a situation where some Arab nations establish relations.

An official EU organization that apparently considers several Arab states making peace with Israel to be a "profound failure" seems to be a pretty big deal. Does this mean the EU considers earlier peace between Israel and Jordan and Egypt to have been a net negative as well?

In fact, the EUISS site does not have any analysis of the Abraham Accords at all. Even though these agreements have been perhaps the most far-reaching change in the Middle East since the Iranian revolution, they do not merit a single article.

The longstanding EU position is that the Palestinian issue is the center of any Middle East peace (the "linkage" claim) and the Abraham Accords showed that this assumption has never been true, and indeed the Arab League was the impediment to peace by pretending that its members were obligated to act as a single anti-Israel bloc instead of in their own self-interests.

In 2020, the EASS - the diplomatic service of the EU - officially welcomed the normalization agreements without using the name "Abraham Accords," but then spent more time discussing how a two state solution should be the main goal and blamed only Israel for the lack of progress on that front. Whether it is stated formally or not, the EU position seems to be that Israel has no rights or legitimate claims to the Old City, Area C or any historic Jewish sites outside the Green Line. It appears that the EU regards the Abraham Accords as a net negative because they reduced diplomatic pressure on Israel on ceding its claims and they took the focus away from the "Palestinians are virtuous, Israel is intransigent" mantra that has been its foreign policy towards the conflict since the Palestinian refusal for peace and the second intifada.

(h/t Irene)

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Was a Moroccan singer "canceled" for performing in Israel?

Arabic media is reporting:

The Moroccan singer, Fatima Zahraa Al-Arousi, caused anger among activists, after she performed a concert in Israel.

Activists shared footage of Fatima Al-Zahraa Al-Arousi's performance, which was organized by the Moroccan Liaison Office in Tel Aviv, on the occasion of the Mimouna festival held by Jews of Moroccan origin at the end of Passover.

It seems that Al-Arousi was expecting the angry reaction, so she did not previously announce the event through her accounts on social networking sites.

However, the Moroccan artist lost thousands of followers from her fans after the footage circulated of her concert in Israel .

Here's the short clip being circulated:

So did she lose her fan base?

Her detractors are circulating this graphic:

According to this, Al-Arousi lost abut 11,000 followers in the three days after the news broke, and based on that, about 60,000 followers until today.

It sounds like a lot, but it is only 3% of her fan base. And her Instagram has a bunch of people criticizing her but really not that many, considering how many followers she has, and many defending her as well. Other social media is decidedly mixed, with plenty of people saying that Morocco and Israel have a peace treaty and she can do whatever she wants. Also, the critics don't have the usual kind of vitriol one usually associates with anything to do with Israel.

It looks like the people who she lost were not her biggest fans anyway. More importantly, the reactions I'm seeing are far saner that the crazed reactions one sees in Arab countries like Algeria, Egypt and Jordan. Usually by now the artists would be accused of being complicit in mass murder or something.

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Tunisian researchers under attack for planning to attend Paris conference on Tunisian Jews

The Tunisian Jewish Historical Society (Paris) In collaboration with the French Center for Tunisian Judaism is sponsoring a conference in Paris next week, entitled "The Jews and the law in Tunisia From protectorate to independence (1881-1956) - Between historical progress and religious resilience."

Some Tunisian researchers will be attending - but they are trying to hide their identities from Tunisians who want to stop them.

The conference will also host some Israeli researchers, so Tunisians are in a tizzy.

Two Tunisians who are listed in the programme have already been subject to on-line abuse from Tunisian antisemites and political parties.

The Executive Office of the General University for Higher Education and Scientific Research in Tunisia stated that it was aware of this conference, so it felt compelled to state that it is still very pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel.

It also said that it would not publicize the names of the Tunisian attendees - presumably to protect them from threats as the two speakers are already getting.

The Executive Office is not saying that no Tunisians should attend, but it does warn that no Tunisian researcher should partner with any Israeli institution that might fall under the rubric of "normalization."

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Moroccan government rebukes opposition party for attacking its policy on Israel

Last week, Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party accused the Moroccan government of defending Israel in international forums:

Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has been slammed for allegedly "defending the Zionist entity" during meetings with African and European officials.

The Justice and Development Party (PJD) denounced Bourita's remarks during a meeting with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi last week, in which he talked about tripartite regional cooperation and the "opportunities that it grants for development between Morocco, the European Commission and Israel."

The government issued a rare rebuke where it both expressed its support for Palestinian positions as well as defended its relations with Israel while accusing the PJD of playing politics:

The General Secretariat of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) recently issued a statement containing irresponsible excessive views and dangerous approximations concerning the relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Israel, against the background of the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In this regard, the Office of His Majesty the King stresses the following:

Firstly: Morocco's position regarding the Palestinian question is irreversible. It constitutes one of the priorities of the foreign policy of His Majesty the King, the Commander of the Faithful and Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, who places this issue on a par with the question of the Kingdom's territorial integrity. For Morocco, this is a constant, principled position, which should not be open to political posturing and narrow electoral campaigns.

Secondly: The Kingdom's foreign policy is a prerogative of His Majesty the King, may God assist him, as per the Constitution - a foreign policy which His Majesty implements in light of the immutable values and best interests of the nation, chief among which is the question of territorial integrity.

Thirdly: The Kingdom's international relations cannot be the subject of blackmail by anyone or for any consideration whatsoever, particularly in the current complex global context. The instrumentalization of the Kingdom's foreign policy in a domestic partisan agenda thus constitutes a dangerous, unacceptable precedent.

Fourthly: The resumption of relations between Morocco and Israel took place in circumstances and in a context which everyone knows. It is governed by the communiqué of the Office of His Majesty the King dated December 10, 2020, and the communiqué issued on the same day following the telephone conversation between His Majesty and the Palestinian President, as well as the Tripartite Declaration of December 22, 2020, signed in His Majesty's presence.

The nation's driving forces, political parties, as well as some prominent figures, and certain associations engaged in the Palestinian question, were at the time informed of that decision, for which they expressed their support and commitment.

Arabic media are interpreting this statement according to their own political positions, some emphasizing the Moroccan commitment to Palestinian positions and others highlighting the Moroccan government attacking an Islamist party.

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Lebanese freaking out that maritime agreement appears to be legal recognition of Israel

From Arab News:

There was controversy in Lebanon on Friday after a document on the demarcation of maritime borders appeared to suggest the country had recognized the neighboring state of Israel.

Talks have been ongoing between the two nations for some time amidst a backdrop of broader political tensions, with a state of war technically existing between them.

Possibilities of a thaw in relations have also been hindered by the influence of strongly anti-Israel factions in Lebanese politics, especially the Iran-affiliated Hezbollah.

The document in question, recorded as No. 71836 and published on the UN’s official website, said that “the secretary–general of the United Nations hereby certifies that the following international agreement has been registered with the secretariat in accordance with article 102 of the charter of the United Nations … constituting a maritime agreement between the state of Israel and the Lebanese Republic (with the letters, Oct. 18, 2020) Jerusalem, Oct. 27, 2020 and Baabda Oct. 27, 2022.”

One activist told Arab News on condition of anonymity: “The UN document is undeniably clear; Lebanon recognized the state of Israel, and Hezbollah’s role has become limited to protecting the common borders.”

Here is the UN document that is upsetting them so much:

At the time, Lebanon took pains to say that this is not recognition:

A letter approving the deal was first signed by Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Beirut and then by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem.

Lapid claimed that Lebanon's signing of the deal amounted to a de-facto recognition of Israel.

In a palace statement after he signed the agreement, Aoun said the deal would have "no political dimensions or impacts that contradict Lebanon's foreign policy."

"The agreement... will take the form of two exchanges of letters, one between Lebanon and the United States, and one between Israel and the United States," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN Secretary General.

Lebanon, which has fought a series of wars with Israel, said it would not allow its delegation to be in the same room as the Israeli side, and the two parties would not even sign the same piece of paper.

Rafic Chelala, a spokesman for the Lebanese presidency, confirmed that the Lebanese delegation "will not... meet the Israeli delegation".

This latter article seems to contradict itself - was it one letter signed by both Israel and Lebanon in separate places, or as it two letters between each of them and the US?

I cannot find official copies of the letters from last October to see if both signatures are on the same page. Based on this Times of Israel article with the text of the letters, it does not appear that Lebanon recognized Israel in any way. But I cannot claim to know much about international treaty law.

Either way, it is fun to see the freak-out.

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