A thought on the "normalization" agreements.
They are NOT "peace treaties."
They are, primarily, trade agreements.
A good start toward peace, but not peace.
In the weekday Ahmedah (אמידה) we — Sefardim — read
Give us good hope and afterwards peace.1
What we have with the "normalization" agreements is hope.
Hope that the governments — as they stand now — won't make war on us or send troops against us.
It will be years before we have a true "peace" with these not-next-door neighbors.
"Peace" to this scrivener's mind means acceptance by all our neighbors, not just the governments.
Peace with governments AND people
We have a "peace" treaty with Egypt and another with Jordan.
But, except for officials, traveling to — or from — either country is less than casual; indeed, it can be dangerous.
An Israeli can travel to Jordan, but he must leave his sedur in Israel.
An Egyptian has difficulty LEAVING Egypt for Israel.
Once there was a direct flight between Cairo and Lod. A thing of the past.
There are flights from Amman to Lod, but via a third country, often Turkey. A half hour flight now takes about 18 hours.
It could be worse. Israelis are prohibited from entering the PLO/PFLA-controlled areas and entry into Gaza by a sane Israeli almost is suicide. (Hamas is holding two Israelis who voluntarily entered Gaza. Both are thought to be mentally deficient. Hamas refuses to return them to Israel.)
Long memories
The U.S. "civil war" was ended more than 150 years ago.
Yet, today — December 2020 — there are places where "damnYankees" still are not welcome. In the north, many Southerners still are automatically considered racists, bigots, even sans any evidence of this.
While it would be NICE to think that the people of Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan, et al will welcome us in friendship, the "man in the street" in the end counts more than those in the governments.
I did not include Morocco as it has a generally welcoming population, albeit there are those who oppose not only peace with Israel but the king as well.
Sad but true. A Jew may be
✡ Safer in Bahrain than in France.
✡ Safer in the UAE than in Germany.
✡ Safer in Morocco than England.
For now.
On the flip side, Israelis, particularly those whose parents came from Muslim lands, need to control their hate of Muslims, Israeli Muslims and visitors from the "normalized" countries. Again, government officials are one thing; the man in the street is altogether a different matter.
Notes
1 Ahmedah, winter prayer "ברך עלינו" which most Ashkenazim don't have.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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