Trick or treat?

Ultimately, only justice can bring peace to the Middle East

QATAR is making the right move by not joining her neighbours in normalising relations with Israel until the latter’s conflict with the Palestinians is resolved (NST, Sept 16, “Qatar won’t join neighbours in establishing ties with Israel”). To sign a treaty with Israel while the Palestinians’ land remains occupied, as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain did on Tuesday, is a big mistake. Here is why. It has been a long-held understanding among the Arab and Muslimmajority countries that normalising relations with Israel is conditional on the latter ending the occupation of Palestinian territories. Tuesday’s signing by the UAE and Bahrain goes against the grain of this long-held understanding. Besides, as Daoud Kuttab points out in his op-ed in Project Syndicate, there is the 2002 Saudi Arabia “Arab Peace Initiative” adopted by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that makes clear that diplomatic normalisation with Israel is only possible in exchange for its withdrawal from Palestinian territories. Sure, the UAE and Bahrain are independent countries and they are free to do what is good for their national interests. But how could making the normalisation of relations with Israel conditional on ending occupation of Palestinian territories be against the national interests of the UAE or Bahrain? United States President Donald Trump, often given to boasts and hyperboles, told the media that “five or six” Arab countries will follow suit soon. For the sake of peace in the Middle East, we hope the “five or six” will give this a big think before reaching for the pen that may perpetuate the pain of the Palestinians. There are very good grounds for holding the horses.

Firstly, international law is on the side of the Palestinians. There are several United Nations resolutions, Resolution 242 being one of them, that make this clear. Israel has no choice but to give up the Palestinian territories that it has been occupying since 1967. By refusing to do so, Israel is on the wrong side of international law. What is worse, Israel is continuing to tear down Palestinian homes to build Jewish settlements. This will not stop. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this clear on the very day Trump announced the UAE’s intent to normalise relations with Israel recently. Secondly, Palestinian refugees, who were driven out by Israel in 1948, remain in limbo. Israel must be compelled to allow them to return. No right to return, no normalisation, should be the principle. Long before the ink on the two agreements was dry, Netanyahu said: “Ultimately, strength brings peace.” He could not be more wrong. As the signatories gathered in the White House to sign another “deal of the century” brokered by the US, hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip showed how wrong Netanyahu was. Protests and rockets said it all. True, Israel is strong. After all, it is the only nuclear power in the region. Some tyrants, it seems, can have access to nuclear weapons. Finally, justice always precedes peace. Both Trump and Netanyahu must recognise that Israel can only get peace if justice is done to the Palestinian cause. Israel can’t strip a people of their land and pray for peace. Neither Israel nor the Middle East will have peace so long as the Palestinians are denied their rights. Might is never right. Ultimately, justice brings peace. The Americans and Israelis may ignore this, but the Arabs mustn’t.

Neither Israel nor the Middle East will have peace so long as the Palestinians are denied their rights.