Noah Rubin - Week 3 - HISTORIC Peace Agreement

Yesterday, Israel signed a historic peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain called the Abraham Accords. This agreement for 2 Arab states to recognize Israel publicly, open up diplomatic relations, and encourage trade is huge for the entire region. Previously, most American politicians were convinced that peace with the Arab world could not happen for Israel without settling the Israel-Palestinian conflict first. Trump and his administration approached Arab countries in the gulf in a way that no one thought was previously possible. Whatever your view of Trump is, we can agree he’s unconventional… Previously only Egypt and Jordan established similar agreements in all of Israel’s 70+ years of existence. In addition, Trump is optimistic that “5 more” Arab countries will join into similar agreements in the coming months. Also: In case Trump is reading this, THANK YOU! In my opinion, this peace between Israel and these 2 rich Gulf countries shows 3 main facts to the region:

 

1. Israel is a legitimate state and will stay a legitimate state

2. Arab leaders would rather make a strategic alliance with Israel against Iran than ignore their existence

3. If the Palestinians don’t want to seriously talk about peace, they will be left behind
   

 

1: Israel is a legitimate state and will stay a legitimate state. Us Donna Klein kids know the history of the establishment of the state of Israel, so we know that it not only has a right to exist but that it was also established ‘fairly’. Many Jews today do not know the history of the state of Israel and are critical of Israel’s existence - and this is even more true for the general public and EVEN MORE so true for Arab countries. Regardless, this treaty shows that these 2 countries (and more to follow) are accepting the fact that Israel exists today. By making peace, creating diplomatic relations, opening trade, collaborating, and encouraging tourists the countries have shown that they accept Israel as a neighbor. 

2. Arab leaders would rather make a strategic alliance with Israel against Iran than ignore their existence. No one likes Iran, or their proxies for that matter. The Iranians are not only dangerous to the middle east, they are a danger to the entire world, and their existence as a common enemy was definitely a catalyst for this peace agreement. If G-d forbid there is a big war in the middle east any time soon, the enemy will be Iran - not Israel. With this in mind, the UAE and Bahrain are standing up to Iran and their terrorists by making this alliance.

3. If the Palestinians don’t want to seriously talk about peace, they will be left behind. Popular opinion used to be the exact opposite, but this peace agreement shows that many Arab countries are done waiting for the Palestinians. They are able to see that they have the wrong intentions and aren’t serious about making peace. While this agreement was ‘predicated’ upon Israel suspending annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis didn’t give anything up for this peace - and some would even argue that they wouldn’t have ended up annexing the West Bank anyways. In any event, these countries have left behind the Palestinians, and Trump has given up on them. He hopes that if he can get more Arab countries to recognize Israel’s permanent spot in the Middle East, the Palestinians will eventually cave and accept a peace agreement. Again, this was thought to be impossible just a few years ago - John Kerry, Obama’s Secretary of State, said that “there will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world”, and the many politicians who said that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem would make any peace impossible.

 

 

We pray for peace everyday, and this week, peace was made! This is a historic agreement, and Trump has set the bar high claiming that more countries will follow (multiple times of course). If we do see more regional powers such as the Saudis making peace with Israel, I think there will be a shift in the Palestinian attitude and peace in the region will become very plausible. I look forward to the coming months where hopefully more Arab leaders make peace. 

Without getting into politics, I need to mention the criticism and lack of coverage (from the left) on this peace deal… Much of the criticism stems from a general hatred from President Trump, but some of it is based in other beliefs. To address people claiming that the UAE and Bahrain were never at war with Israel and therefore this is not peace - this is a peace agreement because previously the UAE and Bahrain didn’t even recognize Israel as a state publicly (does that sound like peace to you?) In addition, the Palestinians reject this agreement because, well, it doesn't address them - and as I mentioned above, I hope that they will sit down and seriously consider peace (because thus far they haven’t). Lastly, there are critics who suggest that by making peace with countries like the UAE and Bahrain who aren’t democracies, don't give their citizens civil liberties, etc ‘shows Israel’s true intentions’ I would say - why is it ok that the US, Canada, Britain etc have relations with these countries? It is because they exist, and of course we should criticize them, but we shouldn’t criticize Israel for wanting to make peace with its neighbors. I wish that this country could just agree on something, you’d think that peace would be good enough but I guess not...

Ok this post has gotten long, so I’ll stop here. If you agree with any of the criticisms I briefly addressed in the previous paragraph let me know why - I personally don’t see any merit to them but use your AP Lang skills and convince me! Shanah Tovah and I hope that we will see peace sweep through the Middle East this year.