The Israil Deputy Foreign Minister calls on the Arab world to step forward and join with Israel to defeat the forces of extremism and destruction in the Middle East.
15th December, Asharq Alawsat, one of the largest pan-Arab daily newspapers printed an op-ed in Arabic by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the State of Israel, Danny Ayalon. The op-ed was titled "An Open Letter to the Arab World".
In an historic and unprecedented article, Ayalon calls on the Arab world to accept Israel's extended hand in peace and fraternity. The Deputy Foreign Minister calls on the Arab world to step forward and join with Israel to defeat the forces of extremism and destruction in the Middle East. Iran and its terrorist followers on the one hand and climate change on the other are issues which threaten Arabs and Israelis alike. It is surely time to look to the future and break with former intransigencies to create a better future for all the people of the region.
For us to be able to face these and many other challenges, Ayalon states that we need to break with the paradigms of the past. "The Jewish people are here because of our historical, legal, moral and national rights," Ayalon states. "Israel has gone very far and is prepared to do its part, but we must be met by a willing partner. Without this, the region is doomed to more conflict and will negate the unity of purpose in the Middle East that is necessary to face the mounting challenges from without and within."
An Open Letter to the Arab World
By Danny Ayalon
Since the reestablishment of our state, Israeli leaders have sought
peace with their Arab neighbors. Our Declaration of Independence,
Israel's founding document that expressed our hopes and dreams reads,
"We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an
offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to
establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help." These words are as
true today as when they were first written in 1948. Sadly, 61 years
later, only two nations, Jordan and Egypt, have accepted these
principles and made peace with the Jewish State.
Recently the Israeli government has made significant steps to restart
negotiations with the Palestinians and reach out to the Arab world. In
his Bar-Ilan speech in June, Prime Minister Netanyahu clearly stated
his acceptance of a Palestinians state living side by side in peace
and security with the State of Israel. My government has removed
hundreds of roadblocks to improve access and movement for Palestinians
and has assisted the facilitation of economic developments in the West
Bank, through close cooperation with international parties to expedite
projects and remove bottlenecks.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a right-wing government has, in
an unprecedented move, declared it would refrain from building new
settlements in the West Bank. All of these moves taken together amply
demonstrate Israel's willingness for peace.
This Israeli government is also committed to extend a hand to all of
our Arab neighbors, its leaders and its citizens, to join together to
face some of the major challenges facing us all in the coming years.
For the first time in many years, we find ourselves on the same side
in seeking to quell and defeat the forces of extremism and destruction
in our region. While many see the threat from Iran directed solely at
Israel, we in the region know differently. Together, we understand the
menace that emanates from the extremist regime in Tehran. A regime
that seeks to export its extremist ideology across the region and
beyond, while arming terrorist groups that seek to destabilize
moderate Sunni regimes and aiming for hegemonic control of the Middle
East and far beyond.
The Iranian regime has many tentacles spread out across the region
sowing destruction and despair amongst the people. The enemy of the
people of Lebanon is not Israel, but Hizbullah. The enemy of the
Palestinian people is not Israel, but Hamas. The enemy of the Egyptian
people is not Israel, but militant Islamist opposition groups. All of
these groups, and many others, receive their commands from Iran, who
wish to control and suppress any aspirations the region has towards
freedom and advancement.
Iran seeks to hold an entire region, including its own people, to
ransom and keep it engaged in conflicts orchestrated and directed from
Tehran. Whether it is in Morocco, Iraq or Yemen, Iran is constantly
interfering with Arab sovereignty for their own nefarious gain. Israel
and its Sunni neighbors alike are in the sights of Khameini,
Ahmadinejad and their minions.
If Iran is able to attain nuclear weapons, the situation becomes
inexplicably and inexorably worse. The Iranian regime has demonstrated
that if feels unrestricted in its ability to dominate our region, a
nuclear umbrella will only embolden its acolytes to act unrestrained
to the detriment of us all. Only together can we face this threat and
remove it.
Another issue that entails mutual political will to overcome is the
threat of climate change to our region. Many reports and organizations
are pinpointing the Middle East as an area that will suffer gravely as
rain falls even more infrequently and temperatures rise.
Recently, the leading international scholars on climate change met in
Copenhagen and released an important report on this issue. They
claimed that climate change will exacerbate conflicts and increase
strains and violence among competing groups. We are already witnessing
water rights and growing desertification as underlying reasons for the
intensification of conflicts in our region.
"Making the desert bloom" has been a core component of the Zionist
ethos and successes throughout the decades. Israel has been able to
turn desert into arable land and barren landscapes into forests. We
constantly share our agricultural miracles with our friends in Africa
and Asia and it is for this reason that many countries of the
developing world have sought partnership with Israel in addressing
their own agricultural challenges.
However, as Israel's founding fathers wrote in 1948, Israel is
prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the
entire Middle East. Our partners in peace, Jordan and Egypt, and
especially the Palestinian Authority, bear witness to our endeavors in
this direction. Israel has actively cooperated with Egypt on the
"Mubarak Project" for the establishment of an irrigation demonstration
system in Nubariya and annually trains hundreds of Jordanians in
Israel in fields such as sustainable eco-friendly agricultural
methods.
For us to be able to face these and many other challenges, we need to
break with the paradigms of the past. The Jewish people are here
because of our historical, legal, moral and national rights.
Those naysayers who can not countenance a Jewish political presence in
the region will doom all of us to many more decades of conflict and
instability. It is time for courageous leaders to emanate from the
Arab world as did Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1979 and Jordan's
King Hussein in 1994 and recognize that peaceful coexistence is far
better for all of our people than enduring conflict and enmity.
We recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative is an important document,
and is welcomed in Israel as a crack in the denial of an Arab
recognition of Israel. However, like the Palestinian Authority's
dictates to Israel on the peace process, it remains frozen in 1993.
Since the historic handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn, Israel
has taken major strides both politically and strategically towards the
Palestinian position.
Both in 2000 at Camp David and in 2008 during the Annapolis process,
Israeli prime ministers offered the Palestinians everything possible
for peace and on both occasions the Palestinian leadership rejected
these offers. The Palestinian Authority, like the Arab Peace
Initiative, is still holding to its maximalist positions and has not
moved an inch towards Israel since 1993. These positions are obviously
untenable for peace and reflect a worldview that ignores Israel's
significant gestures and seeks to enforce a solution that will mean
the end of the Jewish State. Recent Palestinian and Arab League
declarations only enforce this view.
It is surely time to look to the future and break with former
intransigencies to create a better future for all the people of the
region. Israel has gone very far and is prepared to do its part, but
we must be met by a willing partner. Without this, the region is
doomed to more conflict and will negate the unity of purpose in the
Middle East that is necessary to face the mounting challenges from
without and within.