The Negev Summit held this week under the shadow of lethal terrorist attacks in Beersheba, Hadera, and Bnei Brak was both very special and very moving. Generations of statesmen wanted to take credit for their part in it, and some were right. The previous government managed to turn the non-annexation of 30% of the West Bank (which wouldn't have happened anyway) into leverage to secure agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and even Sudan.
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The Oslo Accords with the PLO led Israel and important Arab states to send diplomats to each other's countries. The Madrid Summit allowed for multi-partite talks in which 13 Arab countries participated, as well as Israel and other countries from the west and the east. The peace deal with Egypt allowed for everything that followed. But it was the sitting foreign minister, Yair Lapid, who managed to bring the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the Emirates, and Bahrain, along with the US secretary of state, to Sde Boker and hear them say things that had never been uttered publicly.
Apart from the absolute condemnation of the terrorist incidents, Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed made a statement that his country had made peace with Israel 43 years too late. Of course, he was referring to the number of years that had passed since the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. For me, this was an incredibly exciting comment. It was a rare admission by the Arab site of its collective missed opportunity in not following Egypt's lead and accepting the Palestinian veto on any peace deals with Israel.
It reminded me of two conversations. The first was held in July 1978 with Anwar Sadat. I asked him which Arab state would be the second to sign a peace treaty with Israel, and he said without hesitation: "Saudi Arabia." Years later, I had a long talk with Egypt's minister of state for foreign affairs Boutros Butrous-Ghali, who was appointed after his predecessor, Ismail Fahmi, resigned in protest over Sadat's decision to fly to Israel.
Sadat instructed Boutros-Ghali to make a series of visits to Arab states to convince them to support the treaty. Everywhere he went, he was booed, and sometimes worse. His country, which founded the Arab League, was expelled from it in disgrace. This week, a historic wrong was made right at the grave of David Ben-Gurion.
Biden was right
According to the responses to things US President Joe Biden said this week about Russian President Vladimir Putin, one might think that he'd been confused or said them about the Pope of about our own chief rabbi. The leader of the free world said that the authoritarian leader could not remain in power, and it's hard to believe that there are many people in democratic countries who think that he should. Biden didn't threaten to replace Putin with a pro-American leader, and he repeated that as long as the Russo-Ukraine war stayed in Ukraine, he would not send forces to fight the Russians.
Putin, who when he first became president long ago made some important steps, particularly when it came to the economy, turned into a dictator reminiscent of some of Russia's worst czars and a few of the toughest Soviet leaders. Everyone is trying to understand what happened to him, and how he devolved into fighting such a brutal and pointless war against Ukraine. Of course, it would be better if Putin didn't stay in power, but the citizens of Russia, who in the past few weeks have paid a bloody price for their president's delusions, are the ones who will have to decide.
The answer when there is no answer
Security and defense officials have long since reached the conclusion that demolishing terrorists' home does not deter acts of terrorism. The opposite – doing so often hurts relatives who have nothing to do with terrorism and condemn it explicitly. In other cases, the demolition itself sparks a desire for revenge. Demolishing terrorists' homes is the easy answer of someone who has no other answer, not for the West Bank or for Israel.
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