Calls for Arab world to unite, iron out differences

Palestinian protester takes up position during clashes with Israeli troops following a protest against the nearby Jewish settlement of Qadomem, in the West Bank village of Kofr Qadom near Nablus. File picture: Reuters

Palestinian protester takes up position during clashes with Israeli troops following a protest against the nearby Jewish settlement of Qadomem, in the West Bank village of Kofr Qadom near Nablus. File picture: Reuters

Published Feb 26, 2017

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The Arab world has been virtually silent on massive expansion in the West Bank, and escalating demolitions of Palestinian homes, writes Shannon Ebrahim.

When Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a week ago in a press conference with US President Donald Trump that Israel would work with its “new Arab allies”, many did a double take. Arab states are allies of Israel? Then there were comments from both leaders alluding to a regional agreement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that could involve countries from the wider region.

From that moment, it was clear the realignment of politics in the Middle East is happening fast, and new emerging alliances are bound to change its face forever. What seems most likely on the face of it is that key Arab states may have signalled their willingness to recognise Israel after 68 years, in return for concessions on Palestine in a new peace deal in which both sides will be forced to compromise.

The problem with any such deal will be that Israel is unlikely to accept Palestine as a truly independent state with control of its own security, borders, airspace, and trading relationships. The most it is likely to agree to would be a self-governing territory in the West Bank that approximates the bantustans under apartheid South Africa.

As far as the one-state solution goes, which even US President Donald Trump alluded to as a possibility, Israel is unlikely to agree to a single state with one person, one vote, when the Palestinians outnumber the Israelis and would demand equal rights as black South Africans did in apartheid South Africa.

These scenarios beg the question - why would Arab states sell the Palestinian dream of a truly independent state down the river? Jordan and Egypt this week claimed to still support the two-state solution, although few people who have examined what is left of Palestinian land after ongoing Israeli expansion believe two-states solutions can be revived.

What has been noticeable in recent times is that the Arab world has been virtually silent on massive expansion in the West Bank, and escalating demolitions of Palestinian homes. The Arab League hardly discusses the Palestinian issue, when once this was the issue which united it, and around which they forged solidarity. There is little support for the Palestinian resistance, despite the continued annexation of land.

But fissures are beginning to emerge in the Arab world on Palestine, most recently from Oman and Kuwait which have reached out to Iran, signalling a desire to reignite solidarity across the Sunni-Shia divide in the Middle East.

The Sultan of Oman and Emir of Kuwait invited Iran's President Hassan Rouhani to the Gulf last week to discuss the situation in Yemen and Palestine. The Speaker of Oman’s parliament also participated in this week’s conference in Tehran on the Palestinian Intifada, making a strong statement calling for unity in the Islamic world in support of Palestinian resistance. Noticeably absent were representatives of other Arab states.

Despite heightened Sunni-Shia tensions in the region, Iran used the Tehran conference to drive home the message that the region needs to come together and iron out its differences. A key message propagated was that Palestine should be the issue that unites the Islamic world, and that continued divisions in the region only serve the interests of outside powers which seek to weaken the region .

Whether or not the two regional powers - Iran and Saudi Arabia - manage to overcome their enmity, it is clear Iran remains confident in the face of threats against it emanating from the White House. Iran may not have nuclear weapons as a deterrent, but its confidence is likely due to the fact it has missiles that can reach Israel, and missiles in Lebanon and Yemen could be deployed in any new regional conflagration, causing massive damage.

Missiles were recently launched from Yemen at Saudi Arabia, hitting an oil refinery, as well as an air base destroying 16 F-16s. The intended message being that the continued bombardment of Yemen is untenable and will be met with consequences beyond the border of Yemen itself.

Iran claims to be prepared to withstand any military confrontation, and has even developed underground shelters beneath Tehran that could shelter and provide for more than 2 million Iranians if the need arises.

Given the resilience of Iran despite years of sanctions, and its growing self-sufficiency and innovation, it seems hard to imagine any kind of military victory over a country with a homogenous population of 80 million, most of whom are determined and ideologically driven. Iran would certainly not be another Iraq, Syria, or Libya.

What is clear is that whatever alliances or configurations emerge in the fluid politics of the region, tension will continue to grip the Middle East and bring heightened insecurity for as long as the issue of Palestine -

the central divisive issue at the heart of the region’s politics - is not satisfactorily resolved.

* Ebrahim is group foreign editor

The Sunday Tribune

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