 Whenever
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (pictured) feels
encouraged by the US, he sees that support as a green light, this time
from the Biden administration, to impose more suppression on his people
and to whip up violence in the region. (Photo by Alaa Badarneh/Pool/AFP
via Getty Images) |
The enemies of peace in the Middle East are continuing their efforts to destroy any effort to normalize relations between Israel and the Arab and Muslim countries.
The enemies of peace want Arabs and Muslims to remain in a continual
state of war with Israel. They want more violence and bloodshed, not
Arabs and Muslims and Jews working together in various fields, including
technology or anything that might bring economic prosperity.
Does the Biden administration really want as its legacy that it was the first in American history to be for oppressors and against human rights, freedom and prosperity for the downtrodden?
There are no human rights to speak of in entities such as Iran, Pakistan or the Palestinian Authority.
Iran, on the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism since 1984, has been called by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken a "leading sponsor of state terrorism" -- as detailed just weeks ago by America's own State Department. On April 13, the United States Institute of Peace reported:
"Iran's human rights record was extremely poor in 2021, the State Department reported.
Security, judicial and political officials carried out extrajudicial
killings, conducted torture and arbitrary detention, restricted free
expression and religious freedom, recruited child soldiers and
discriminated against women and minority groups, among other offenses.
'The government took few steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and
punish officials who committed human rights abuses or corruption,' the
2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices report said.
"'Governments are growing more brazen in reaching across borders to
threaten and attack critics,' Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted. 'Iranian intelligence agents plotted to kidnap an Iranian American journalist from her home in Brooklyn.'"
Iran, among other atrocities, imprisons attorneys for defending human rights, executes minors, and criminalizes
human rights activism. If that is how Iran's regime treats its own
people, what makes anyone think it will treat other countries -- in the
region or in Europe -- any better?
And in a rare occurrence, according to the veteran Iranian journalist
Amir Taheri, demonstrators in Iran have recently been publicly calling for regime change.
The Lebanese, last month, voted
that they have had enough of Iran's proxy, Hizbollah. The only question
now remains what to do with Hizbollah's masses of "peaceful" weapons.
Another Iranian proxy, Yemen's Houthis, showed their gratitude to the US for removing them from the US List of Foreign Terror Organizations, by attacking Abu Dhabi with drones and missiles and striking a Saudi oil depot.
All signs now indicate that most people in the region (for instance, here, here , here, and here)
are fed up with the anti-peace camp in the Arab and Muslim world,
especially with Iran's proxies Hamas, the Houthis and Hizbollah, all of
which have offered the region, including the Palestinians, nothing but
violence and bloodshed.
The enemies of peace sense that the Biden administration is weak,
so apparently they are now feeling confident to increase their
campaigns of terrorism and intimidation against those Arabs and Muslims
who would like their countries to enjoy "a new era of peace, stability,
and prosperity across the region," as the Emirati trade minister, Thani
al-Zeyoudi, said on Twitter.
Iran continues to encourage its proxies to launch terrorist attacks against neighbors in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Iran, too, seems to view the Biden administration as being weak and obsequious.
While Hamas and the Houthis target Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, in addition to that, continues
to act against the interests of its own people. PA President Mahmoud
Abbas appears to be encouraged by the unconditional support he is
receiving from the Biden administration, to the point where he feels
free to continue denying his people good governance and judicial due process.
Last year, Abbas called off
the PA general election after realizing that Hamas's chances of winning
the vote were higher than those of his Fatah faction. Shortly after,
Abbas's security officers beat to death an anti-corruption activist, Nizar Banat, in the city of Hebron. The murder was followed by protests
from Palestinians "calling for the resignation of the Palestinian
president." Fourteen officers involved in the murder have gone on trial,
but the family of the slain activist and legal experts say that the
trial is moving too slowly, is "incomplete," and that the PA security forces are harassing and intimidating some of the witnesses.
Whenever Abbas feels encouraged by the US, he sees that support as a
green light, this time from the Biden administration, to impose more
suppression on his people and to whip up violence in the region.
Does the Biden administration really want as its legacy that it
backed, encouraged and funded unscrupulous, violent regimes – the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Chinese Communist Party, the state sponsor of terrorism Iran, the illegitimate rule of Venezuela's Maduro – and the corrupt government of Mahmoud Abbas?
Meanwhile, Iran's proxy, Hamas -- whose charter
calls not only for the elimination of peace but also of all Jews --
continues to urge Arabs and Muslims not to normalize their ties with
Israel.
Here is what Hamas's charter says: "Israel will exist and will continue to exit until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before."
Its charter also warns against any attempt by Arabs and Muslims to make peace with Israel:
"Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and
international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the
Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas]. Abusing any part of Palestine is
abuse directed against any part of the religion." (Article 13, Hamas charter)
A few months ago, Hamas praised Mauritania for refusing to establish relations with Israel. Last month, Hamas praised the Iraqi parliament for passing a law that criminalizes normalization with Israel.
Alarmed by the rapprochement between Israel and the Arab countries, a
number of Palestinian and Arab researchers earlier this month recommended the establishment of an "Arab and Islamic Front" to boycott Israel and oppose normalization with it.
This came during a virtual conference held in the Gaza Strip by the
Council of International Relations in partnership with the
Palestine-Malaysia Center for the Strategic Initiative and the
Anti-Normalization Campaign.
The participants of the conference , held under the banner of "The New Wave of Normalization, Repercussions and Confrontation Strategies," stressed the need to:
"... reject, criminalize and prohibit normalization with
the [Israeli] entity in all fields, and work to activate popular
resistance in all regions of Palestine and the diaspora along with armed
resistance, in addition to activating Palestinian diplomacy in
defending the interests of the Palestinian people."
They also called
on the Arab League to prevent Arab countries from concluding
normalization agreements with Israel, support Islamic countries that
reject normalization, work to cancel peace agreements signed with
Israel, and issue decisions and legislation that prevent governments
from normalizing with it.
Senior Hamas official Ahmed Bahr said
at the conference that Israel was seeking to "penetrate the Arab
cultural heritage through cultural and economic normalization."
The head of the Council of International Relations and head of the boycott and anti-normalization campaign, Basem Naim, called for devising new strategies to counter Israel's alleged effort to "penetrate" the Arab and Muslim countries.
Sadly, some countries such as Pakistan have also begun to heed the
calls to prevent peace. The Pakistani government announced that a
journalist and broadcaster, Ahmed Quarishi, working for its official
television outlet, had been dismissed from his job after visiting Israel, despite subsequent calls to rehire him.
The announcement was made by Pakistani Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, who said that Pakistan's policy is clear and that it will not accept any kind of normalization.
According to Aurangzeb, "the reported visit in question was organized by a foreign NGO which is not based in Pakistan."
The Palestinian Media Forum, a group affiliated with Hamas, expressed
its "great appreciation" for the decision to expel a journalist for
visiting Israel., stating:
"This step reflects the authenticity of the Pakistani
position in support of the Palestinian people and their just rights, and
a rejection of the media normalization policy with the Israeli
occupation."
The Pakistani minister, however, is mistaken if she thinks that
firing a journalist will support the rights of the Palestinians. Such
myopic measures only support and embolden the enemies of peace,
stability and human rights in the Middle East: Hamas, Hezbollah,
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthis, the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey
and Iran.
Contrary to her belief, boycotting Israel and combating normalization
with it do not contribute to "lasting peace" or the "two-state
solution." On the contrary, such moves harm any prospect of achieving
peace and security in the Middle East and play right into the hands of
those seeking aggression, instability and destruction.
People who say they care about the Palestinians can genuinely support
them by defending journalists and human rights activists who are being
persecuted, harassed and even killed by the Palestinian Authority.
People who claim they are "pro-Palestinian" can truly help the
Palestinians by coming to the West Bank and defending freedom of speech
and the press, and teaching Palestinians about democracy and respect for
human rights. Spreading hate against Jews does not make one
"pro-Palestinian."
The Pakistani government's decision is a big prize to despots and
tyrants in the region, such as Iran and its many proxies, and a severe
blow to attempts to build bridges between Arabs and Muslims and
Christians and Jews.
These increased efforts to foil peace are the main reason that the
Biden administration needs to work toward strengthening and expanding
the entities in the Middle East who want peace. President Joe Biden's
planned visit to Saudi Arabia is a praiseworthy first step. Saudi Arabia
may not be perfect -- no country is -- but at least it not aggressively
trying to take over its neighbors.
It is crucial that the Biden administration throw its full weight
behind encouraging Saudi Arabia to be a leader for peace, stability and,
as it has been doing, if slowly, advancing human rights.
A sure-fire way for Biden to get immediate and full cooperation from
the Saudis would be, on his planned visit, to commit to entirely
eliminating Iran's nuclear weapons program. The US has the capability,
apparently just not the will. To begin with, any country that is
officially on the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations should not
be allowed to possess nuclear weapons, period. It is what all
serious discussions in the region are about. For everyone in the region
except fundamentalist Qatar -- and including the Iranian people, the
mullahs' regime is a mortal threat.
If Biden, as the leader of the Free World, would totally remove this
threat, it would not only go a long way to preventing a nuclear war and
regional arms race, and persuade the Saudis to export more oil, but after the threat is eliminated,
it would send a message of deterrence to Russia, China, North Korea and
other adversaries about what they could expect, and turn Biden's poll
numbers around overnight.
Any efforts to cozy up to Iran will only be seen as hugging and
empowering ruthless despots. It is more important to seek allies,
wherever they can be found, that are eager to discard aggression and
violence. Failing to do so will just plunge the region into a massive
war -- which Iran, its terrorist groups and the US administration
unfortunately seem to be working toward day and night.