IF ANYONE STILL THINKS the Israel-PA impasse is either (a) ALL or (b) MOSTLY Israel’s fault, consider two items from the January 5, 2016 “TIP” email that shows how Muslim-dominated, non-Arab countries welcome trade with Israel and how even Arab Muslim states in the region are tightening their purse strings vis-a-vis the PA.
Expert: Israel-Azerbaijan ties show viability of strong Jewish-Muslim relations (From The Israel Project (TIP) for 5 January 2016.)
The relationship between Israel and Azerbaijan is a positive one indicating that friendship can exist between a Jewish and a Muslim state, Alexander Murinson, a senior fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center at Bar Ilan University, wrote in The Hill on Tuesday. “[T]hese two nations prove the viability of a Jewish state and a Muslim majority state serving as true and steadfast allies to one another and that Muslims and Jews can, indeed, coexist. It is not simply a matter of just ‘getting along,’ but thriving with and because of the other,” Murinson explained. The scholar highlighted the strong ties between the two countries, which exist on several planes: military, commerce, diplomacy, agriculture, energy, and technology.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Azerbaijan last month to meet with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. Netanyahu said, “Here we have an example of Muslims and Jews working together to promise a better future for both of us.” Just a few days after their meeting, Azerbaijan announced that it had purchased the Iron Dome missile system from Israel.
Israel has a strong economic and security relationship with Azerbaijan, buying more than a quarter of its oil from the country. It is also reportedly one of Azerbaijan’s largest weapons merchants, selling close to $5 billion in defense equipment. “Azerbaijan is more important for Israel than France,” Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said in 2012, noting at the time that Israel did more trade with Azerbaijan than France.
A day after visiting Azerbaijan, Netanyahu traveled to Kazakhstan, another Muslim-majority nation, where he said, “Our relations with our Muslim Arab neighbors are changing dramatically. Not all of [it] is public, some of it is, but it’s changing dramatically. And I view the relations with Kazakhstan as being part of this great change that the world is waiting for.” Netanyahu was the first Israeli prime minister to ever visit the Central Asian nation.
ALSO ON TIP FOR 5 JANUARY
In a story headed Palestinian Authority faces budget cuts after drop in foreign funding , part of which is excerpted below, the TIP writes:
- Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates in particular have cut back their contributions to the PA in recent months, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia contributed around $20 million each month to the PA until last April, but has reportedly stopped payments in part to pressure PA President Mahmoud Abbas to implement political reforms.
UN Security Council resolutions and the soon-to-be replaced U.S. president notwithstanding, it is becoming obvious to even the most deaf and blind liberal Israel hater that Israel is NOT the roadblock to “peace in the Middle East.”
In comparison to some other areas infected by the soon-to-be former president’s highly touted “Arab Spring,” interaction between Israel and the PA is relatively quiet despite the PA’s ongoing incitement and “kill the Jews” textbooks for pre-K to high school and kiddy tv shows.
For as long as this scrivener can remember, Israel has quietly been doing business with its Arab-Muslim neighbors, both politically and with real goods (e.g., air conditioners, refrigerators). At one point, Iran was marketing Israeli military communications equipment to its neighbors.
In the air, El Al once had daily flights to Cairo (CAI). Royal Jordanian, with flights between Lod (TLV) and Amman (AMM), even has a Hebrew language web site ! Unfortunately, since El Al cancelled its Lod-Cairo flights due to unrest in Egypt, most flights between TLV and CAI are via Turkish Airways and Istanbul and for the return CAI-TLV via Royal Jordanian and AMM. Most flights require more than 10 hours travel time (due to home country layovers).
After a drawn out web search for TLV-CAI flights, Expedia found a one-stop TLV-AMM-CAI flight with a duration of only 6 hours and 15 minutes (including a four-hour layover in Amman) and a return flight with EgyptAir’s Air Sinai for an 85 minute non-stop flight CAI-TLV. The catch: a round trip price of US$1,150 (compared to US$753 for a Turkish Air/Royal Jordanian round trip).
The reality of Israel and its neighbors is that despite the PA’s hate mongering, relations — both overt and clandestine — are improving; perhaps two steps forward and one step back, but progressing none-the-less.
Now, if only Abu Mazen and the PA would get into step with the rest of the Arab world, perhaps the PA could have a state and Israel would have one more peace agreement.
If.
