Generals of normalisation

Benjamin Netanyahu has been boasting recently about being able to establish important relations with Arab and Islamic countries. The Israeli prime minister has visited Africa and held talks with the president of an Islamic country he did not name but expects to start relations with.

In the past, the issue of normalisation of links with Israel used to be shameful, and people who went down that route used to hide their efforts. Shockingly, though, today we see and hear people adopting, defending and legitimising normalisation, either by supporting it directly or by being silent about it. They are taking advantage of the region’s preoccupation with other important matters and the absence of the Palestinian issue from the regional agenda as well as the encouragement of some Palestinians who are associated with the Israeli occupation through security coordination.

The photograph of former Saudi intelligence General and head of the Middle East Studies Centre, Anwar Eshqi, with Palestinian General Jibril Rajoub, the godfather of security coordination with Israel, and creator of the first building blocks of participation with settlers and occupation army leaders, shows clearly the nature of today’s relations between Israel and its near-neighbours. Some people are creeping through the gaps to implement agendas that in Israel’s best interests, establishing a culture of surrender and security coordination, instead of resistance. All of this is taking place with full collaboration and cover provided by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, whose president, Mahmoud Abbas, is putting pressure on some Arab and Islamic parties, including some African and Gulf countries, to normalise with the Israeli occupation, all under a pseudo-religious cover.

Eshqi could not have visited Israel without the consent of some Gulf parties which are pushing to expand cooperation and coordination with the occupation in contradiction of calls for Israel to accept the Arab [Peace] Initiative and facing the Israeli threat to the region. They’re doing so using the justification that they are supporting the PA against the occupation. Even if this were true, what kind of support can be offered through meetings with occupation leaders; meetings which Netanyahu is using against those involved in boycott campaigns in Europe by saying that he has friendly relations with Israel’s neighbours and Gulf States.

Criminalising normalisation should be taken for granted regardless of who is involved or cooperating in Israel’s security, or who they’re affiliated with or which countries they come from; no matter if that is Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan or other countries; and no matter how hard some people try to find justifications for being so close to the occupation.

General Eshqi’s visit is an example of what Israel is trying to encourage in the Middle East, taking advantage of regional unrest and trying to end popular hostility against such people. This is visible especially in large regional countries such as Saudi Arabia, where ordinary people reject all forms of relations with the occupation and are hostile towards those who maintain them; they blame official bodies and religious authorities for being silent about ongoing normalisation.

The PA’s General Jibril Rajoub is one of those local officials for whom normalisation is provided in exchange for Israel’s blessing and personal privileges. They represent neither the views nor the interests of the people of Palestine.

Translated from Felesteen, 24 July 2016.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.