Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Keeping our cool with Saudi Arabia - Dr. Mordechai Kedar




by Dr. Mordechai Kedar

Seventy years of ostracism by the Arab world fills us with false hope at the sight of an Arab smile. We should take a leaf from their book and remember that "God is with the patient" (Quran, 2:153).

Revelry and rivers of enthusiasm washed over Israeli media over the past week: "Saudi newspaper interviews Israeli chief of staff!" "Peace with Saudi Arabia has begun!" "The days of the messiah are upon us!" That was the general spirit of the responses to the interview Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot gave to the Arabic news website Elaph last Thursday.

This site is, in fact, not at all a Saudi newspaper, as claimed in the various reports, and is run from London by two people, one born in Saudi Arabia and the other in Iraq.

Few Israelis know that the interviewer was not some Saudi journalist who landed in Israel in secret, as was suggested, but by Druze-Israeli Majdi Halabi, one of our own, who serves as Elaph's Israel correspondent.

This site has given a platform to a number of Israeli writers since its establishment in 2001, including articles by my mentor, the late Prof. Shmuel Moreh, and even yours truly. But by all means, if we can get everyone excited about a historical event or the coming of the messiah, why not?

Incidentally, I combed the Saudi news outlets for any mention of the interview, but I did not find one.

It is true that Eizenkot said very interesting things in the interview, including that "we will not tolerate the entrenchment of an Iranian presence in Syria in general, and particularly west of the Damascus-Suwayda road [forming a line running roughly parallel to the Israel-Syrian border]. We will never allow any Iranian presence – we warned them against building military facilities and bases, and we will not allow it."

What he said, in other words, is that we control a strip of land inside Syria, dozens of kilometers wide, along our border, and we will do everything in our power to expel the Iranians from there. But what will happen if the Iranians do build a base there to test our mettle? What if they publicly declare that an attack on their base will spark a big war? Will the IDF actually strike?

It seems that Israelis – both senior officials and professional interviewees – have forgotten the first rule of the Middle East bazaar culture, a rule we learned from the godfather of negotiations in our region (and my esteemed teacher, may he live many years), Professor Moshe Sharon: "Never show excitement, because then the price will climb to a level you won't be able to afford." The Saudis need us because of the Iranians. They would be willing to get into bed with the devil himself if he would protect them from the Persians.

We must maintain a neutral poker face so that they feel they have to work hard to convince us to give them what they want on our terms. For example, a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem. Why? Because. That's our demand.

Seventy years of solitude, hatred, boycotts and insults from our neighbors have caused us to be moved by any semblance of a smile, to lose our cool over a handshake, to become excited when a question asked by an Israeli reporter is answered begrudgingly by a lowly Saudi prince, to cry with joy after a Kuwaiti representative remains in the auditorium when our ambassador speaks. Our obsession with displays of Arab attention and Arab gestures has become a psychological disorder. They fully exploit our desperate desire for their smiles, delighting in our "learned" commentators' analyses of their every move.

This unbridled excitement proves that we did not learn the lesson our neighbors learned from the Quran: "Verily, God is with the patient" (2:153) – meaning that if you want God to help you, do not become overexcited, do not leave the safety of your front yard, do not show emotions and do not make haste. Be cool-headed and patient and make sure to maintain your poker face.

The stress and fear of Iran that is pushing the Saudis in our direction is presenting us, perhaps for the first time, with an opportunity to set our own terms: direct peace negotiations solely with the Saudis, without any foreign intervention; a Saudi embassy in Jerusalem; recognition of Jewish rights to live everywhere in Israel; a clear distinction between Israeli-Saudi peace and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; a Saudi pledge to refrain from voting against Israel in international forums; full normalization, including scientific, cultural, commercial and industry cooperation and the acceptance of flags and anthems at sports events. Have a problem with that? See ya.

Anyone who thinks that this sort of peace – which would be much better than the agreements Israel currently has with Egypt and Jordan – is impossible, is stuck in the mentality of Moses' 12 spies, who told him after scouting the Holy Land: "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and seemed the same in their eyes" (Numbers 13:33). On the day that we see ourselves at our true size, our neighbors will treat us properly. Until that day, however, let's hold the festivities.


Dr. Mordechai Kedar is an Israeli scholar of Arabic culture and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University.

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/keeping-our-cool-with-saudi-arabia/

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