The official end to the Arab-Israeli conflict

The leaders of the official Arab governments have announced, explicitly and implicitly, through words and actions, that the conflict with Israel and the Zionist project as a whole has ended. This particular issue has been removed from the mainstream regional agenda and no longer has a place in it, not even in its margins. Therefore, it is strange that Israel is still very concerned about its security in relation to the Arab threat. I could find no better or more honest expression of this concern than what was written by Haaretz newspaper, “It’s a regional mix that changes at a dizzying pace. One conflict spills over to, and influences, the neighbouring confrontation. Intelligence analysts and leaders have only a minimal ability to foresee events or navigate through them;” thus showing a sense of fear and dread from something unexpectedly happening.

The vast masses of deluded Arabs used to wait for “respite” from the official Arab regimes and have always considered the perpetual phrase “the Palestinian issue is the Arabs’ top issue” with a sense of hope that it would one day lead to the light at the end of the tunnel. Today, almost no one believes that any of the official Arab figures are concerned with Palestine, or its people, or the outcome of the issue. Not only this, there are also practical measures being taken on the ground to persecute all of those who think outside the “official box”. The courts are waiting for all those who are interested in the resistance and who speak about it to others. In addition to this, Israel’s iron dome defence system is guarded by the Arab regimes and their top national security priority has become “drying out the sources of resistance”. Anyone who breaks this golden rule faces murder, imprisonment or prosecution.

Finally, Palestine has been removed from the official Arab cycle of lies, as it was never its top priority and anything ever said in this regard was false and deceptive. It was the official Arab governments that helped Israel complete its project, not to mention help establish it, both publicly and secretly. This mutant would never have completely grown without the direct and indirect help and care of the Arab officials. The only difference between now and then is that the official Arab media machine has taken off its mask of shame and is no longer concerned with hiding the Arab officials’ help for Israel, once under the pretext of “peace” treaties, once under the pretext of combating the so-called “terrorism”, and another time under the pretext of preserving national security. However, these are all false claims that have nothing to do with the official Arab strategy that is firmly fixed on one matter that “Israel is here to stay.”

I am now looking at a representative sample of the truth behind the official Arab regimes’ position on Israel, which Israeli military circles in Israel call by its true name “drying up the sources of resistance”, according to a report published last Sunday by Yedioth Ahronoth quoting an Israeli military source. The military source that the drying up of not only the sources of resistance, but also the sources of dignity, are being carried out with the utmost harshness and “courage”, amid almost complete silence from the Arab elites, the vast majority of whom are sleeping in the government’s bedrooms. We barely hear their voices and the justification for this is the Arab national security.

The Israeli military source exposed a matter that is no longer a secret, as the Arab media machine announced it “comfortably” when it stated since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi came to power via coup in Cairo, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have not been able to bring one missile into the Gaza Strip via Sinai. This “achievement” was made after the Egyptian army adopted the policy of destroying the tunnels. However, the “greatest achievement” made by the Egyptian army is the elimination of the path used for the smuggling of arms and weapons, which were smuggled from Sudan to Gaza via Sinai. This measure was not carried out arbitrarily; it was the fruit of official “understandings” between Israel and Egypt, to ensure that Hamas’s military strength does not grow, according to the Israeli source. Based on these understandings, Cairo stopped allowing cement allocated for charity projects to enter Gaza through Egyptian borders in order to prevent Hamas from using the cement to build tunnels and underground fortifications. Egypt has also prevented the entry of metal pipes out of fear that Hamas will use them to manufacture missiles, as well as chemical fertilizers used for agricultural purposes out of fear that it will be used to make explosive materials. Egypt has even prevented the entry of turning machines because Israel claims that they are used to produce missiles, and this is even applied to all other machines that may provide parts to be used in the manufacture of new missiles.

It is obvious here that during this phase of national deception and treachery, the level of confidence and trust between the Egyptian and Israeli security agencies has become very high and complete. This is cited by the words of the military expert who said that the cooperation and coordination between the two sides, which aims to prevent the growing Hamas’ strength, has reached an unprecedented level. This military expert did not forget to praise Egypt and its President’s success in making much greater achievements than the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, in all matters relating to the efforts aimed at preventing the growing of Hamas’s strength. He even went as far as accusing Mubarak of condoning the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

The issue of Palestine has practically and publicly been removed from under the umbrella of official Arab deceitful concern. It was done so in broad daylight and very clearly, and no one, neither the masses nor the elites, are expecting anything from them. Instead, they have started looking elsewhere. Perhaps, this is the source of Israel’s concern Haaretz referred to.

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadid, 23 April, 2015

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