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In the past few weeks, Israeli-Palestinian tensions have escalated, and the Israeli army has waged another deadly war against Gaza. This attack, and the threat of expulsion of Sheikh Jarrah residents in occupied East Jerusalem, and the Israeli attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, triggered Palestinian protests. These are only 73 years old. Another chapter of the Palestinian Nakba. .
However, these events also show that the failure of the normalization agreement between the four Arab countries and Israel (the so-called “Abraham Agreement”) was reached in 2020. These agreements were heavily promoted as promoting peace in the Middle East and curbing Israeli expansionist policies in Palestine. But it turns out that both failed.
What does normalization do?
The declaration of normalization of relations with Israel is full of hope. It will help achieve peace in the Middle East, stop Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, and open the door to economic development throughout Africa. But what has happened since then proved that these agreements were merely commercial transactions led by former US President Donald Trump, who did his best to accommodate all the ideas of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The main result of normalized transactions is that the United Arab Emirates will become Israel’s main trading partner after giving up decades of Arab boycott of Zionist countries. Abu Dhabi announced that it has plans to invest in Israeli high-tech companies, manufacturing, healthcare and agriculture, among other sectors. What is important is that the two countries are likely to cooperate in military production. Like other Arab countries, the UAE has acquired Israeli surveillance technology, drones and airport security equipment. Despite announcing that the UAE is opposed to Israeli occupation and occupation of Palestinian territories, it has begun to allow goods from illegal Jewish settlements (labeled “Land from Israel”) to be sold on its market.
The economic relationship between Bahrain and Israel may also strengthen. The Israeli government predicts that non-military trade with Manama will reach $220 million by 2021, but it also hopes to sell its military and security hardware.
The normalization agreements with Sudan and Morocco will not bring large inflows of trade, but the two countries are expected to benefit from the United States’ own political victories. Khartoum has been removed from the list of countries supporting terrorism in the United States, which will help the poor country to obtain loans and investment, while Rabat has been granted Washington’s recognition of the sovereignty of Western Sahara that it has sought since the 1970s.
As the events of the past few weeks have shown, none of these deals has changed the situation in the Middle East hotspots, especially in Palestine.
Israel continues to engage in systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. With the assistance of the police and state laws that discriminate against non-Jews, the Israeli government continues its campaign to expel Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem. Several families are now facing being forced from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Threat of forced eviction.
Israel also continues to trample on the religious rights of Palestinians. One night in Ramadan, the Israeli police attacked believers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and actually threw unconscious grenades and smoke bombs into Al-Haram al-Sharif courtyard. Israeli forces also harassed Palestinian Christians and prevented some of them from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Easter services.
Israeli far-right groups are encouraged by the electoral alliance with Netanyahu, which has also increased the harassment of Palestinians. Some of them marched in Jerusalem during Ramadan, chanting “Death of the Arabs”. Their virulence spread to mixed cities within the Green Line, where they attacked Palestinian houses, motorists and pedestrians. During the aggression against the Palestinians, they were protected by the Israeli police, which once again confirmed that Palestinians in Israel are second-class citizens. This was officially announced with the promulgation of the “Jewish Nation-State Law” in 2018, which actually codified Israel into an apartheid country.
Finally, Israel’s aggression against Gaza shows no signs of abating. Last week, it launched its third major attack in a decade on the besieged area. As of this writing, more than 200 people have been killed in Gaza, including 59 children and more than 1,000 injured. In the conflict between the West Bank and the occupying forces, another 13 Palestinians were killed.
Standardized cost
It is difficult to see how Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel claim that their goal is to bring peace to the Middle East. Events in recent weeks have shown that they have completely failed to achieve any positive results in all aspects. To be sure, after the Israeli attack on Al-Aqsa and the bloody attack on Gaza, they are likely to encounter strong public opposition and lose their credibility.
The Arab public has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to the cause of Palestine. In the latest “2019-2020 Arab Opinion Index” conducted by 13 Arab countries representing approximately 300 million people, 88% of the respondents rejected the idea of ??normalizing relations with Israel. 79% said that Palestine is still the main concern of all Arabs. In Sudan, 79% of respondents said they opposed establishing relations with Israel before ensuring Palestinian rights.
In the face of Israeli aggression, the Arab public remains committed to defending the Palestinians and Jerusalem, including the peoples of the four countries that normalized relations between the two countries. However, the obstacle to continuing to publicly express solidarity remains the authoritarian nature of Arab politics, which prevents the true expression of popular sentiments. To be sure, when the UAE Embassy in Tel Aviv issued a congratulatory message on “Independence” Day to Israel, it was difficult to express anti-Israeli opinions in the UAE. This marked the beginning of the Naqbar War in Palestine and the deprivation of property in 1948.
Taking into account the public opinion indicators and Israel’s current actions, it is difficult to see how the impact of normalization with Israel on Palestine is different from the current cold peace between Israel and Egypt and Jordan and between Egypt and Jordan. In addition to establishing official relations and restricting trade, the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty and the 1994 Jordan-Israel treaty did not shake public opinion or strengthen official contacts. In fact, the cold relationship between Israel and Jordan reminds everyone that the Zionist state will never harm its own interests in order to maintain good relations with any Arab country.
It is unlikely that Israel will defend any Arab country that has normalized relations with Israel. One of the reasons for normalization touted by the Trump administration is a potential regional alliance against Iran. Since Israel is focused on expanding and consolidating its settler colonization projects in Palestine, there is no reason to save any Arab countries. Israel only cares about its own safety and will not fight Iran on behalf of the Arabs.
After Trump’s term ends, the standardization process will not bring any benefit to Washington. The Biden administration does think that it is the defender of Israel, but it is obviously unwilling to reward Israel’s “new friends” like its predecessor. The U.S. Congress may still cancel the UAE’s F-35 agreement, and political pressure on the government may force it to reverse the U.S. recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
It seems increasingly that Saudi Arabia-the victory that Trump and Netanyahu seek to achieve normalization-is unlikely to follow in the footsteps of the UAE. The Zionist state’s attack on the Palestinians and its encroachment on the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem made this move by Saudi Arabia simply stupid. When Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Mohammad bin Salman) restores his image domestically, regionally, and internationally, any step towards normalization may deprive him of the basic element of legitimacy required for his rule .
As Palestinians in Jerusalem are fighting for their continued presence in the city, Gaza resisted the fierce Israeli offensive. Facts have proved that normalization with Israel is a fundamental failure to bring peace and security to the region. To be sure, considering everything that has happened since the signing of the Abraham Agreement in September last year, the standardization itself has shown that it is only a business transaction for those engaged in the agreement, which may make them in the region and The credibility of other regions suffered losses.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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