Rod Reuven Dovid Bryant and Jerry Gordon bring back Dan Diker, Director of the Countering Political Warfare Project at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs to address potentially significant developments in relations between Israel and Arab neighbors in the Middle East and predominately Muslim nations in the strategic Sahel Region of Central Africa.
Diker updated on normalization initiatives involving Palestinian Arab and Israeli economic enterprises in more than 16 Industrial Parks in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria employing more than 30,000 and providing incomes for employees three times the average earnings of Palestinian workers. The objective of normalization in this context is demonstrating that peace can be achieved through prosperity with the ultimate objective of a federated Palestinian entity. He noted that perhaps one of the most enthusiastic supporters of this concept is Minister of Strategic Affairs, Gilad Erdan who has brought foreign diplomats to view the success of normalization between Palestinians and Israelis in the industrial parks.
Diker said that Netanyahu had expanded normalization to reflect outreach to Emirates in the Gulf Cooperation Council, especially Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman. A visit to Oman resulted in recognition of Israel s a Jewish State. With the visit to Jerusalem of Chad President Idriss Deby Itno, Diker noted this was an important extension of diplomatic, economic and development relations with a Central African Country of strategic importance given the intrusion of Russia, China, Turkey and Qatar to exploit the region’s mineral resources and to establish bases of operation. Jerry Gordon noted that Chad’s neighbor Sudan with its Muslim Brotherhood regime headed by ICC indicted President Bashir had offered Red Sea bases to Russia and Turkey, while pursuing genocide against indigenous African people in Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile state recruiting a jihadist terrorist army from the Sahel region and Middle East. Gordon cited a colleague former Chadian Lt. Gen. Abakar Mahamat Abdullah, a native of Darfur and Chairman of the Sudan United Movement who had built the successful Chad based Pan-Sahel Initiative combating terrorism. Abdallah’s force was trained by US Marines and Special Forces. He is a graduate of the US Army War College and the US Army Intelligence School.
When asked about the long-waited Trump “deal of the century’’ the Middle East Peace Plan. Diker indicated that now it is delayed given recent events in the Middle East. The recent Gaza incident that led to the resignation of former Defense Minister Liberman caused Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s coalition to shrink to less than 61 mandates. Many Israelis call Netanyahu,” the magician”, because of his ability to survive political. Diker suggested that Netanyahu might opt for a general election in the late spring in 2019.
Diker spoke of a recent closed JCPA conference that brought together Kurds, secular Arabs from Syria and Iraq to meet with Israelis to discuss an ‘old new” idea of federated states that may eventually replace. the map of the Middle East that created artificial boundaries that reflected the British and French imperial interests as victors of WWI.
He addressed a new book he authored exposing he political warfare against Israel and Jewish students waged by Students for Justice in Palestine with 250 chapters on US university campuses.