This page has opined on the controversy Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich created recently when he called for Israel to assert sovereignty over most of the West Bank, i.e., Judah and Samaria. He described his call “as a preventative step against the diplomatic assault that’s planned against us.”
Smotrich was, of course, referring to international announcements, including by longstanding Israeli allies like Britain and France, that they will recognize a Palestinian state later this month roughly comprising the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. He said his avowed goal was “to remove, once and for all, this idea of a Palestinian state.”
Smotrich’s statement also triggered some nasty responses from several Arab states that had recently warmed up to Israel, in particular the United Arab Emirates which had been a prime mover in the negotiations leading to the Abraham Accords.
A UAE spokesman said that “Annexation of the West Bank” would be a “red line for the UAE …[and] would severely undermine the vision and spirit of [the Abraham] Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration and would alter the widely-shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be – two states living side by side in peace, prosperity and security.”
But, as we saw it, Hamas continues as a self-described implacable and predatory enemy of Israel bent on its destruction such that nothing short of both the obliteration of Hamas’s ability to commit violence against Israel and Israel’s possessing overwhelmingly defensible borders.
At all events, in true cavalry to the rescue American tradition, U.S. ambassador to Israel said the other day that if Israel decided to apply sovereignty in parts of the West Bank the U.S. would respect that decision and would not dictate terms to Jerusalem.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Huckabee, when asked in an interview how Washington would react if Israel annexed parts of the West Bank, responded, “We respect Israel as a sovereign nation. We are not going to tell Israel what it can and cannot do any more than we would expect Israel to tell us what we can and cannot do…. Sometimes [Israel] may disagree with the United States – that is their right. They are a sovereign nation, and they have every basis to say we disagree. We respect our partner.”
The support of the U.S. is obviously of great importance, perhaps all important.
And there was also the Reuters report that while the United Arab Emirates may downgrade its diplomatic ties with Israel if it annexes part or all of the West Bank, it is not weighing the option of severing the relationship, citing “three sources briefed on the Gulf Arab state’s deliberations.”
This despite the Emirati foreign ministry having told The Times of Israel September, that “any annexation would be a ‘redline,’ jeopardize the Abraham Accords, and end the pursuit of regional integration.”
But the seeming good news could well be misleading. The New York Times has reported that the recent Israeli targeting of Hamas leaders in Doha ostensibly gathered to discuss a Gaza cease-fire proposal and hostage release has led Gulf powers to reconsider the worth of U.S. protection. And therein lies an important tale.
Qatar hosts the largest American military base in the Middle East. However, according to a Middle East scholar quoted by the Times, “Qatar being unable to protect its own citizens with literally the U.S. Central Command on its territory has prompted locals to question the value of the American partnership. It’s a real problem for Gulf leaders. And it should worry the United States as well.”
The Times reports that the Israeli attack sent shock waves through Gulf capitals that have been courted by Israel as potential allies in recent years and have long regarded the U.S. as their main security guarantor.
Plainly the case is being made that the attack could threaten the foundations of an American-led order in the Middle East.
But the key takeaway may well be the observation of another scholar at Kuwait University: “This is a litmus test. If Gulf leaders don’t do anything forceful now, they will only be part of an Israeli orbit of power and an Israeli-led regional order.”
This hardly raises the prospect of an eventual fulsome Arab welcoming of Israel into the Middle East especially since it should be clear by now that those targeted, although reputed to be in Doha to discuss a cease-fire and hostage release is just scamming the system in an attempt to continue its human trafficking, retain power in Gaza and pursue its plan to destroy Israel.