"Normalization" - at what cost?
21 August 2020
A weekly reflection on current global affairs concerning Israel and
the Jewish people from a Biblical perspective.
Last week, Israel, the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that Israel and UAE have reached a historical agreement to “normalize” relations.
The very fact that Israel needs to make agreements with its neighbours to “normalize relations” is in itself bizarre. Ever since its creation in 1948, the Arab world has refused to conduct normal diplomatic relations with Israel. They have required as the price of normalization full Israeli compliance with the demands of the PLO for the liberation of Palestine. Since 1967 the official Arab position has been: no recognition, no peace, no negotiations. It is incredible that the rest of the world has acceded to this demand, and participated in isolating Israel and placing pressure on it to reach agreement with the PLO on conditions that threaten Israel’s security and perhaps even its very existence.
It is a major achievement that Netanyahu has managed to reach a deal with an Arab state without making the major concessions that previous were assumed necessary. This is the first agreement with an Arab state that does not condition peace on full compliance with Palestinian demands to give up all of the so-called “occupied territories”. Although Israel has agreed to suspend application of Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank, it has not agreed to abandon its sovereignty claims or even its intentions to assert them in the future.
There is no doubt this is a major development, that reflects and itself will instigate changing balance of power in the Middle East. It is to be hoped that it will lead to further “normalized” relations between Israel and the Arab world.
It remains to be seen, however, for how long the extension of Israeli sovereignty over (parts of) the West Bank can be postponed. Within Israel, there is considerable division on this issue.
In the meantime, the political situation in Israel has deteriorated, and there is a possibility the country may have new elections. This will lead to more division and uncertainty.
In this time of chaos and confusion, there is a great need for prayer and intercession by the church on behalf of Israel, the Jewish people, and all the people in the land.
Andrew Tucker
Editor-in-Chief - Israel & Christians Today
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