Arab street will never accept the API

Op-ed: Saudi peace initiative nothing more than a diplomatic whim

By Guy Bechor, YNET

Representatives of the Arab League are amending the “Saudi initiative” and turning it into a “peace” treaty with Israel. Certain elements in the Jewish state rushed to praise the idea, even going as far as claiming that the new initiative is important to Israel. Really?

The Arab League does not exist in reality. The new initiative was actually introduced by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in order to increase Cairo’s influence in the Arab world. There is nothing pan-Arab about it.

Seeing that Egypt’s involvement is no longer wanted in the Middle East, the Arab League’s actions have always failed. Its initiatives to intervene in the civil war in Syria failed and North Africa has spun out of control, as have Iraq and Lebanon. The only way the Arab League can show that it is “relevant” is by introducing anti-Israel measures, which are meant to drive a wedge between the Jewish state and its closest ally the US in favor of another imaginary entity – the Palestinians. Thus, one imaginary entity – the Arab League – promotes another imaginary entity, and the US State Departments cooperates.

It was the Arab League that saw to it that Palestinian refugees from the Land of Israel were not granted citizenship in Arab countries; it was the Arab League that decided on an economic boycott of Israel, which remains in effect; and it was the Arab League which published literature containing the most severe incitement against the Jewish state to date. Yes, to this day the Arab League promotes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and similar anti-Semitic works. Its members do not accept Israel and have no wish to reconcile. Despite the Americans’ pleas, they refuse to make any goodwill gestures to Israel. Of course, they constantly demand that Israel make goodwill gestures.

Who does the Arab League represent? Only the regimes of the Sunni countries, or what’s left of them. The Shiite countries – Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon – no longer cooperate with this League. So Israel makes peace with the Sunnis; but what about the others? We must keep in mind that the territory the IDF will withdraw from will be seized immediately by armed Salafis from all across the Arab world – as was the case in Sinai and Syria. Who will come to Israel’s aid when it is attacked? The fighters of the ‘peace-loving’ Arab League?

Moreover, according to the League’s regulations, any amendment to the Arab initiative requires a vote among the heads of the Arab states, or, at the very least, their foreign ministers. But this will never happen, as no Arab leader will ever vote in favor of any such change. This initiative has always been nothing more than a diplomatic whim, and the Arab street will never accept it. Indeed, the Arab media hardly reported on this “amendment” to the initiative, because it is virtual.

The “amended” initiative is merely part of yet another attempt to back Israel into a new corner; another Arab attempt in the 100 years of war, which is doomed to fail.