Even 10 years ago, if an Israeli government had announced the acquisition of land in an occupied West Bank, protests would have erupted in 22 countries in the Arab world.
But in June, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his decision to annex a large part of the Jordan Valley, the most fertile part of the West Bank, to his country, there was no outcry in the Arab world.
Israel's decision will also undermine the last chance of an independent state - despite repeated Palestinian threats, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies have remained silent. Less than two months later, the two Gulf Arab monarchies established normal relations with Israel.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain went to Washington on Tuesday to finalize the agreement. And on the same day, President Trump sided with Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming that at least five other Arab countries were preparing to establish relations with Israel.
Why Israel's peace agreement with Gulf Arab countries is important
Frustrated, angry Palestinians are watching as the united support of the entire Arab world for the last half-century to end the Israeli occupation and form an independent state that begins to crack.
There is no doubt among the Middle East political analysts that the plight of the Palestinians is now slowly slipping down the list of priorities in many Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia's Iran panic:
The push of the Arab Spring, the long civil war in Syria-Libya-Yemen-Iraq, the threat of the militant group Islamic State, the falling oil prices - these are the reasons why many Arab governments are so preoccupied with internal issues that the Palestinian issue is no longer on their agenda.
Added to that is the fear of jujur with Iran.
 |
| A Palestinian teenager throws bricks at soldiers outside a Jewish settlement near Nablus in the West Bank. |
Mohamed Yahya, a senior news editor at the BBC Arabic News, thinks Iran-fear is so strong among Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states that they see closeness with Israel as their bulwark.
"Iran is now their common enemy. As a result, the Saudi initiative called "Arab Initiative" 18 years ago to establish an independent Palestinian state, which has put tremendous pressure on Israel is now very weak, "he told BBC Bangla. Yahya.
At the instigation of the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, 22 Arab states announced in 2002 that Arab-Israeli relations would not return to normal until Israel relinquished Palestinian land occupied in the 1967 war and allowed East Jerusalem to become the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
Mohamed Yahya said Saudi Arabia itself had weakened their initiative.
According to media reports at the time, Prince bin Salman openly said that Saudi Arabia wanted a solution to the Palestinian crisis, but "dealing with Iran is now a much more important priority for them."
Mr. "Saudi Arabia itself may now be taking the time to establish direct diplomatic relations with Israel to maintain its leadership in the Islamic world, but you can be sure that the UAE and Bahrain would not have signed this agreement with Israel without the approval of the Saudis," Yahya said.
Many observers believe that new geopolitical reality in the Middle East, the US Middle East policy, and the leadership of the Muslim world, the Arab countries are now allied in several groups, which has given Israel many advantages in achieving its political aspirations.
Ahmed Kuru, a teacher at the University of San Diego in the United States and a West Asia expert, told the BBC that the current divisions and conflicts among Arab countries are unprecedented in recent history.
“They are divided into a few blocks. The UAE has an influence on Saudi Arabia; Iran-Iraq-Syria on the one hand, and Qatar on the other.
Dr. Kuru said. "Israel is taking full advantage of this division ... for almost a decade now, the Palestinian issue has been slowly coming to the brink,"
At the same time, the Palestinians are now more cornered than ever before by the current White House administration's one-sided approach to Israel. The number of such allies in the Arab world is dwindling.
Emotion ebbs over Palestine:
But what is the attitude of the general public in the Arab world now on the Palestinian issue?
Mohammad El-Dahshan, a Middle East researcher at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, told BBC Bangla that there was no doubt that the Palestinian issue was not as popular in the Arab world as it once was.
One reason, according to him, is that the Arab countries have no direct experience of the history of the Palestinian struggle in a new generation. As a result, they do not have as much passion for Palestine as their forefathers did.
 |
| Palestinians protest in Gaza against the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UAE and Bahrain with Israel |
"But that's not to say that the emotion is completely gone. If you still go to my birthplace Egypt, you will see people gathering in a small town, perhaps on a local issue, with a Palestinian flag in their hands. Palestine may have nothing to do with that group, but they have that flag in their hands. "
Mohammed El-Dahshan said people in most Arab countries could not give their political views. "As a result, it is not possible to understand one hundred percent of what they are thinking about the Palestinian issue."
Experience in Egypt and Jordan:
Mr. El-Dahshan thinks that although one Arab government after another is building diplomatic relations with Israel, the significance of that relationship will ultimately depend on the decisions of the people of those countries.
He cited the history of Israel's diplomatic relations with Egypt and Jordan as an example, saying that over the past few decades, those relations have been confined to two governments.
"Israel had a similar agreement 40 years ago with Egypt and 30 years ago with Jordan. But neither Israel nor the Israeli people have had any contact with the people of these two countries for so long. "
"If Israel does not build relations with the people of the UAE or Bahrain, it will be limited to setting up embassies between the two countries," he said.
Mr. El-Dahshan thinks a solution to the Palestinian crisis is still important to build such a meaningful relationship.
What is the road in front of the Palestinians?
The question is, Mr. Will the Palestinian leadership wait for the kind of indirect pressure that El-Dahshan is saying?
Mohamed Yahya of the BBC Arabic Service thinks there are very few options in front of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the moment.
Omar H. Rahman, a researcher at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., wrote in a recent publication that the weak leadership of the Palestinian leadership is largely responsible for the whole situation.
"While President Trump has been taking one step after another for the past two years to thwart the prospect of an independent Palestinian state, the Palestinian leadership has come up with the old-fashioned slogan, without presenting any alternative proposals, without trying to make friends."
 |
| Jewish settlements have been set up in the West Bank in violation of UN resolutions |
Mr. Rahman thinks that Mahmoud Abbas has always waited for the "emergence of good sense" in Israel and the United States to achieve the goal of establishing a state, and as a result has gradually become much more irrelevant.
So is the prospect of an independent Palestinian state forever?
Mohammed El-Dahshan, who himself has been in the West Bank and Israel for a long time working for the United Nations, thinks that the dream of an independent Palestinian state has not been seen by the Palestinians for some time.
“New Jewish settlements are still being built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Jewish population in those settlements has exceeded eight million. In the name of protecting those settlements, wall after wall has been erected in the Palestinian settlements. The Gaza Strip is now a prison. As a result, the Palestinians have realized that state formation is no longer possible. "
So what will they do now?
Mr. El-Dahshan said the Palestinian leadership had not yet rejected the demand for an independent state. But a large number of ordinary Palestinians now feel that they have only one option, and that is to abandon the dream of their own state and demand equal rights in the state of Israel.
"I think the leaders are also thinking inwardly that they may have no other option ... so the ball is now in Israel's hands."
Israel may have to decide in the near future whether to agree to an acceptable independent Palestinian state, or whether to grant Palestinians civil rights in the state of Israel.
Post a Comment