{"id":80683,"date":"2020-09-07T17:05:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T15:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=80683"},"modified":"2020-08-30T07:47:06","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T05:47:06","slug":"07-05-58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=80683","title":{"rendered":"Can Arabs and Israelis prosper together?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Can Arabs and Israelis prosper together?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

AHMED CHARAI<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

US President Donald Trump\u2019s Middle East adviser Jared Kushner hailed the UAE-Israel pact as an \u201cicebreaker.\u201d He is right.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOROCCAN PRIME MINISTER Saad Eddine El Othmani criticized the UAE-Israel peace deal, but days later walked back his remarks, saying he was speaking in his personal capacity, not as a government official. (photo credit: YOUSSEF BOUDLAL \/ REUTERS)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Arab world was strangely quiet in the wake of the United Arab Emirates\u2019 announcement of peace with Israel. The \u201cArab street\u201d did not explode.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a strategic victory for both Israel and the UAE. Israel has started on a path toward normalization with an Arab government for only the third time in its history, and, for the first time, with a Gulf Arab state. For the UAE, it demonstrates a rare willingness to take risks for peace. The Emirates has positioned itself as a beacon of religious tolerance.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also strengthens security for the whole Middle East, as it increases the pressure on Iran and its Lebanese proxy forces. Tehran\u2019s public announcements certainly tried to provoke the proverbial \u201cArab street\u201d into protests and demonstrations. So far, those efforts have failed.<\/span><\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump\u2019s Middle East adviser Jared Kushner hailed the UAE-Israel pact as an \u201cicebreaker.\u201d He is right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Far from the region, Morocco\u2019s Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani criticized the peace deal. What happened next is significant. Days later, he walked back his remarks, saying he was speaking in his personal capacity, not as a government official. This \u201cclarification\u201d is telling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember, Othmani is also leader of Morocco\u2019s Islamist party, the Justice and Development Party, known by its French-language initials PJD. Last week, PJD invited Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to address the party\u2019s young leaders. This invitation aroused massive criticism from the Moroccan media and political decision-makers.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Othmani does not speak for Morocco on foreign policy. Under Morocco\u2019s constitution, which was ratified by voters in 2011, foreign policy, diplomacy and national security are the exclusive province of the king.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many Arabs and Jews remember Morocco\u2019s uniquely positive history with Israel. Morocco\u2019s former king, Hassan II, worked tirelessly to foster rapprochement between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including the Palestinians. He did so privately as well as publicly.<\/span><\/p>\n

He facilitated every major initiative from Camp David in the 1970s to the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. Behind the scenes, King Hassan II was considered a driving force for the first peace agreement between Arabs and Israel. In the years before the 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors, just as pan-Arab calls to annihilate Israel were reaching a fever pitch, Hassan II publicly called for Israel\u2019s integration in the Arab League.<\/span><\/p>\n

Decades of tragedy and squandered opportunities later, Morocco\u2019s current king, Mohammed VI, maintains the same commitment to advancing Israeli-Arab rapprochement. The king personally provides funds for humanitarian and medical aid to the Palestinians. In these and other efforts, he is affirming that the Palestinian people\u2019s human needs and rights should be met. But he is also signaling that their future lies not in the triumphs or failings of any official leadership \u2013 certainly not the Arab League \u2013 but in the development of their own peaceful civil society.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are also family ties between Israel and Morocco. One million Israelis were either natives of Morocco or have a Moroccan-born parent or grandparent. The legal rights of Jews, and other religious minorities, are guaranteed in Morocco\u2019s 2011 constitution. Jewish schools still dot Morocco\u2019s major cities and Jews worship freely here. Above all, the king has made his personal affinity for Jews into formal domestic policy and won over a large swath of the population to the values of religious tolerance that he espouses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope that Kushner\u2019s three years of behind-the-scenes diplomacy is now paying off. Many Arabs, myself included, are hoping for the day when Arabs and Israelis can peacefully prosper together through tolerance, trade, tourism and cultural exchange.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The writer is a Moroccan publisher. He is on the board of directors of the Atlantic Council and an international counselor of the Center for a Strategic and International Studies in Washington.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Can Arabs and Israelis prosper together? AHMED CHARAI US President Donald Trump\u2019s Middle East adviser Jared Kushner hailed the UAE-Israel pact as an \u201cicebreaker.\u201d He is right. MOROCCAN PRIME MINISTER Saad Eddine El Othmani criticized the UAE-Israel peace deal, but days later walked back his remarks, saying he was speaking in his personal capacity, not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80683"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80697,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80683\/revisions\/80697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}