The Abraham Accords, which ushered in peace agreements between Israel and four countries — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrein, Sudan, and Morocco — has shown for the first time in decades that peace is possible between the Jewish state and Muslin nations. Other players — Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, for example — may be next.
That is wonderful news, but the question is: How deep, how sincere, how secure will the peace be? Egypt and Jordan were the first Arab countries to recognize and sign agreements with Israel, but the result has remained a cold peace for decades.
One reason is that while the leaders of the two countries agreed to have relations with Israel, people in the Arab street, for the most part, were not consulted and did not approve. In both of those countries, official rapprochement with Israel came after decades of anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and anti-Jewish propaganda directed at the masses. That hatred has not ceased.
Truly turning around Jew-hating ships of state and their populations won’t always be easy. I mention this because in the Israel section currently on this website, we report on Palestinian incitement directed even at children. Virulent Palestinian anti-Israel incitement has been copiously documented for many years. If a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is found, how will millions of Palestinians who hate Israel and the Jewish people come around?
Some signs emerging from the Abraham Accords are positive. Numerous business and scientific collaborations with the UAE and Bahrain have already begun. In the short period since the historic signing of the Abraham Accords, more than 50,000 Israelis have visited the UAE. And the visits have been a two-way street, with Gulf Arabs coming to Israel. Personal contact may be the most potent weapon to reduce animosity on both sides.
Encouragingly, recent reports indicate Saudi Arabia is revising its textbooks to delete hatred of “non-believers” and incitement to violence against the “other.” The following is from a Time article on the subject:
“The Kingdom’s latest batch of textbooks has for the first time removed sections calling for non-believers to be punished by death and predicting an apocalyptic final battle in which Muslims will kill all Jews, according to a report released Tuesday by a Jerusalem-based think tank that analyzes global curricula for extremist and intolerant views.”
A step in the right direction, to be sure. Unfortunately, dictatorial regimes have a hard time declaring that the hate-filled bile they’ve been spewing for many years was wrong and a mistake. Time will tell if the damage can be repaired.
For their part, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco have no territorial claims against Israel, unlike the Palestinians. Nor do they have large populations of Palestinian refugees to contend with. Plus, the Gulf states stand to benefit greatly from Israeli innovation and technology, not to mention from strengthening the front against Iran. None of the countries involved have ever fought a war against Israel.
(Sudan appears to be in a somewhat different position: It has witnessed mass demonstrations against the peace agreement since it was concluded.)
No matter what the obstacles are to forging real peace, we would do well to remember that during World War II, the United States was awash in propaganda against “Japs” and “Krauts” — perhaps understandably under the circumstances. Today the U.S. counts Japan and Germany, as well as their residents, as friends.
It proves that while turning around antisemitic ships of state and citizens — or the Palestinian people, for that matter — won’t necessarily be quick and easy, it is not out of the realm of possibility.
— Lenny Giteck, Publisher and Editor
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