The atmosphere of the extra-parliamentary opposition as well as the coronavirus conceals the dramatic breakthrough in the Middle East. The flight scheduled to carry Jared Kushner and Meir Ben-Shabbat through the skies of Saudi Arabia is a dream that newspaper headlines have been touting for decades. This week, it's coming true.
In addition, Sheikh Mohammed Ben Zayed has canceled the Emirati boycott of Israel that had been in effect since 1972. The trade deals the two countries will sign could be worth $500 million at the start, and much more in the future. This is an optimistic tailwind for the Israeli economy that is recovering from the COVID fallout.
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The actual negotiations about the deal, as important as it might be, are not the primary concern. In the past, negotiations with Arab states or with the PLO had a weighty effect on Israel's security and Israeli-US ties. This time, it appears that the strategic victory of breaking into the Arab circle without any dependence on the Palestinians, thus acquiring an advantage against Iran, is costing Israel ongoing tension with "Hamastan" on the border with the Gaza Strip. Moreover, the negotiations, which are not expected to be complicated, are anchored to Trump's presidential agenda leading up to the Nov. 3 election.
We need to say it: Israel's defense and security leadership cannot allow negotiations in the Gulf to confuse them when it comes to Gaza. To paraphrase slogans from the past, the IDF will manage its war in Gaza as if there were no Emirates, and make peace with the Emirates as if there was no ongoing war in Gaza. As far as that goes, it's good that Defense Minister and Prime Minister-designate Benny Gantz is being left out. In leading policy on Gaza, he should be thinking only about the security of residents of the western Negev. No domestic or American political interest should be mixed with military considerations.
Israel's relations with American administrations while making peace have always been loaded. Menachem Begin and Moshe Dayan's 1977 breakthrough with then-President of Egypt Anwar Sadat was carried out in secret, with both sides worried about the Carter administration and what it was cooking up with the Russians. Over the years, the Palestinians have become a point of conflict for Israel and the various American governments, and certainly between Israel and the European Union.
All that has changed. Still, peace with the UAE bears Trump's fingerprints and was ushered in by Jared Kushner. With all due respect for the cooperation between the Israeli government and the Trump administration, the negotiating team under National Security Council head Meir Ben Shabbat should work as if there wasn't going to be an election in the US. It shouldn't take any step or make any concession merely because of the pressure of time constraints. We can assume that the Israeli team knows this and that the Emirati rulers are just as interested as Israel is in making the deal, possibly more.
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