Toward a Transformational Peace in the Middle East
by Guy Millière • September 26, 2020 at 5:00 am
Both Arab countries and Israel will benefit immensely.
Palestinian leaders are suddenly discovering that, as the Arab saying goes, "The dogs bark but the caravan moves on" – possibly without them.
"We [realists] understand that only defeat will convince Palestinians like Mrs. Ashrawi, and through them Iranian, Turkish, Islamist, leftist, fascist, and other anti-Zionists, that the century-plus conflict is over, that Israel has prevailed, and that the time has come to give up on futile, painful, and genocidal ambitions." — Daniel Pipes, Middle East Scholar.
If President Trump is able to continue following the bold, unconventional path he has traced, he will most likely succeed where all his predecessors have failed. What he has accomplished already -- in less than four years, with so many forces determined to undermine him... is extraordinary.
"Trump has done more for peace in the Middle East in four years than any other American President in seventy-two years." — Meyer Habib, member of the French National Assembly, i24 News, September 14, 2020.
On September 15, two peace agreements with Israel and known as The Abraham Accords – one with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one with Bahrain, and -- were made official at a White House ceremony. President Donald J. Trump spoke of a "historic breakthrough" and a "previously unthinkable regional transformation". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added that the world is witnessing "the dawn of a new Middle East ".
The agreements, which come 26 years after the last peace treaty, between Jordan and Israel, mark a further step towards the integration of Israel in the region.
The UAE and Bahrain are the first Arab countries to recognize Israel without requiring any concession from Israel (Netanyahu said that the extension of Israeli sovereignty to parts of Judea-Samaria and the Jordan Valley was suspended, not canceled) and without any American financial contribution involved.
