By Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan (ex-Diplomat, Editor, Analyst. Pakistan)
United Aran Emirate (UAE) has recognized the state of Israel on August 13, 2020. The US-brokered the deal, and the dominant player behind it was President Trump’s advisor, son-in-law, Mr. Kusher.
UAE became the 3rd Arab state recognizing the Jewish state of Israel. The first country was Egypt, which signed a US-sponsored peace deal with Israel in 1979, and accepted the state of Israel. As a reaction, Egypt was thrown out of the 22-member Arab League. The whole Arab World was against that deal and criticized the Egyptian actions. However, Jordan recognized the state of Israel in 1984, but a little reaction was observed in the Arab World. Although the hardliners have been criticized but there was no any significant visible impact.
The recognition of the state of Israel by UAE has been taken by the Arab World, a matter of bilateral ties officially. But the public anger and reaction are quite severe. It was believed, and much of Western Media was projecting that some of the Arab countries are queuing up to recognize the state of Israel, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, etc.
It is to be noted that all these countries, expected to accept the state of Israel, are ruled by kings, not by democratically elected leaders. So they do not represent the public feelings. Most of them are unpopular leaders in their own country and ruling through security forces and turned as the Police States. Some of these rulers depend on foreign powers to sustain their rule. Under such circumstances, the gap between the general public and the rulers has been widened.
The public has a principle stand on the state of Israel. Judaism is one of the oldest religions among the three dominant faiths – Islam, Christianity, and Jews. By population, Christianity is the largest religion currently believed in the World. Islam is the second-largest religion by followers and the most popular religion in the Middle-East; there are 57 Muslim countries around the World, with 22 Arab countries.
The recognition of the state of Israel by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is against the UN resolutions, against the decisions by 57-nations OIC and 22-nations-Arab League, and against the fundamental rights of people of Palestine. It may be considered the illegitimate occupation of Arab Lands by Isreal as legitimate and may encourage Israel to further expansions.
The creation of a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim World was the root cause of the problems. There are an estimated 8 million Jews all over the World, and out of which 6 million are settled in the state of Israel, mostly migrated from Eastern Europe, Africa, and other parts of the World. They are not the son of the soil and not the indigenous locals. The expansionist approach of the State of Israel has been pushing Arabs out of their homeland. Millions of Palestinians have lost their homeland.
Historically, the Zionist movement of the late 19th century had led by 1917 to the Balfour Declaration, by which Britain promised an eventual homeland for Jews in Palestine. When that former Ottoman province became a British mandate under the League of Nations in 1922, it contained about 700,000 people, of whom only 58,000 were Jews, approximately 11 % only.
Mass migration was witnessed during the period of 1920s, 1930s, 1940s. The wealthy Jews were purchasing the land in Palestine. If some Arabs refuse to sell their property, they face severe consequences like murder, injuries, detention, arrest, hostage, or expelled to exile. The Zionist militias of the Haganah and Irgun killed 5,032 Arabs and wounded 14,760, resulting in over ten percent of the adult male Palestinian Arab population killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled. By the end of World War II, the Jewish community of Palestine had increased to 33% of the total population.
Meanwhile, Zionists concentrated on the United States, whose sizeable Jewish voting bloc was believed likely to influence policy. In the 1944 campaign, Roosevelt endorsed the founding of a “free and democratic Jewish Commonwealth,” a visible shift in the US policy.
The General Assembly approved the partition of Palestine on November 29, 1947, granting to Jews some 5,500 square miles, mostly in the arid Negev. Jews state was declared on May 14, 1948. Communal violence erupted, and the UN intervened to stop the bloodshed and called for a cease-fire on May 20, 1948.
A 10-day Israeli offensive in July 1948 destroyed the Arabs, and finally, by October occupied Arab lands in the Lebanese border and the edge of the Golan Heights in the north and to the Gulf of Aqaba and into the Sinai in the south. This illegal occupation was not recognized by any Arab country, nor by the International community
Since then, the unrest in the middle east has started. More than a half-million Palestinian refugees were scattered around the Arab World. The 1948 war thus marked only the beginning of trouble in the region. Then, the Stae of Israel occupied more land in the neighboring Arab countries in the 1967 Arab-Israel war.
The United National Security Council has passed several resolutions in favor of Palestine, for the establishment of the independent, sovereign state, and limiting the state of Israel to originally approved ( 5,500 square miles) only. The international community has a principle stance on Israel. Except for the US, it recognizes all illegitimate occupations and even further expansions too. The US is facing isolation in its position in the UN also. The majority of the World stands with the principles and criticizes the state of Israel.
Many countries around the World have not recognized and have not established diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. Especially the Arabs and Muslim countries have not recognized Israel.
It is desired that the UN charet may be respected, the UNSC resolutions may be implemented in the true spirit, the right of self-determination of Palestinian people may be respected, the illegal occupation of Arab Lands may be returned, and the state of Israel restored to its original shape. Peaceful coexistence between Arabs and the Jews state may be achieved amicably. Any further bloodshed may be averted.
Photo credit: AFP
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).