If Arab leaders want peace, they should recognize Israel

By: Alan Levine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened the winter session of Israel’s Knesset with a speech this past Monday, in which he focused on the necessity of Palestinian recognition of Israel for any peace process to succeed.  Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, echoed this call in the New York Times on Thursday.  Netanyahu offered the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a renewal of a freeze on building in the Israeli neighborhoods of the disputed territories in exchange for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish State.

Analysts are asking whether Netanyahu made a good tactical choice and whether his focus on this issue will result in a return to the negotiating table, but they are completely missing the point.  The bigger question is: when will Israel’s neighbors recognize that Israel has a place on the map?  How can there be peace if millions in the Arab world still have “hope” that Israel can be destroyed?

While Netanyahu talked about Palestinian recognition of Israel, he could have talked about Arab recognition of Israel.  Twenty of the 22 governments represented at the Arab League still do not recognize the Jewish state.  That fact has plenty of political consequences for the Palestinians, but more importantly it creates an atmosphere that is fertile for incitement, hatred, and terrorism in the Arab world.

Without recognition and acceptance of a Jewish state in the neighborhood, there can be no true peace.  Just look at Israel’s first peace partner, Egypt.  The Sinai Peninsula, the Egyptian region which borders Israel, is filled with Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda operatives.  The area serves as a transfer point for weapons smugglers into Gaza and has experienced a massive suicide bombing against Israeli and other foreign tourists.  And in the last few months, a number of Katyusha rockets have been fired towards Israel from Egypt.

People routinely point to Israel’s relationship with Egypt as a model of what is possible with the Palestinians.  But while Israel has an important peace agreement with the Egyptian government, too many Egyptians are still at war with Israel.

This is no surprise when one sees the anti-Semitism that is still rampant in the Arab media and educational curriculum throughout the Middle East.  Take the incitement in the press and schools, combine it with silence from Arab leaders and the occasional promises like “Zionists will disappear” from the likes of Ahmadinejad and the outcome is terror and violence.

If an agreement were formed with the Palestinians without widespread recognition of Israel in the Arab world, the peace agreement would struggle to be anything more than a piece of paper.  Even if Abbas and Fayyad had the best intentions in the world, they can only do so much until the spirit of peace, acceptance, and tolerance is widely embraced in the Arab world.  If Israel leaves Judea and Samaria for the Palestinians, and the history of Sinai—not to mention Gaza—is repeated, any terrorist group or militia will be able to fire rockets into Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Ben Gurion Airport.

The first step to real peace is for Arab countries to accept Israel’s legitimacy and teach it to their people; to stop preaching hate on television, to stop erasing Israel from maps in schools, and to stop saying that Tel Aviv and Haifa are Palestinian cities.  Then and only then will there be hope for a true and lasting peace.

Recommended links:

“Anti-Semitism in the Arab World-Archive,” Anti-Defamation League

Middle East Media Research Institute

Palestinian Media Watch

“Senator Hillary Clinton Blasts Palestinian Propaganda,” Palestinian Media Watch, Youtube

“The Core of the Conflict,” Ari Shavit, Haaretz