Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed for Washington, DC, on Sunday to attend a Tuesday ceremony at the White House, where he will sign agreements with ministers from the UAE and Bahrain to normalize Israel’s diplomatic relations with the two Persian Gulf nations. The pacts will be Israel’s third and fourth peace treaties with Arab countries, after those it signed with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
“Israel’s strategy has always been to try to shore up as much support in the Arab world, one way or another, in order to legitimize its crimes in Palestine. And so they were able to do that through economic means, through selling arms and security systems and of course the peace deal with the Egypt, the largest Arab country, and then with Jordan,” Peled, author of “The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine” and “Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five," told hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman.
It appears that the Trump administration may be looking toward normalizing relations between Israel and Morocco by introducing direct flights between them. The North African country, an ally of the US, has long harbored close intelligence ties with Israel. According to Daily Sabah, which cited Israeli television station N12, the flight route between the two countries could be a step toward enhanced relations. In addition, N12 reported Saturday that Washington plans to push for Oman and Sudan to also establish diplomatic ties with Israel.
Last Wednesday, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, told reporters that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had also agreed to open their airspace to Israel.
“They [Saudi Arabia and Bahrain] agreed to open their airspace not just to flights from Israel to the United Arab Emirates and back, but to all eastward travel,” Kushner said, Times of Israel reported.
“Gradually, what they want to do is develop good relations with the Arab countries so as to say, look, these Palestinians just don’t want peace, Peled explained. “The reality is, the Palestinians are being killed, they’re being thrown out of their homes, they are living in an apartheid regime, the racism, the brutality, the violence that they are suffering at the hands of Israel … and so Israel is going around and around trying to shore up support in as many Arab countries as possible as a strategy to defend itself.”
“These Arab countries are slowly falling into this trap, some because they want access to America, some because they’re quite happy to do business with Israel, so they don’t really care about Israel crimes toward the Palestinians,” he added.
“This is the reality in these countries, where the regimes find it profitable for them to do business with Israel, to normalize Israel. And really, mostly, this is because it’s a stepping stone to America. This gives them access to America, better access to buy weapons and get weapons from America.”
