The normalization deals that Israel has cut with Gulf monarchies actually clarify the political work for western progressives: they need to build a coalition with Palestinians based on democracy and equality, authors Rashid Khalidi and Peter Beinart agreed today.
“The most absolute monarchies on earth are the ones that just made an agreement with Israel,” Khalidi said during an Arab Center conference. “There is a huge thirst for democracy in the Arab world…in Algeria, in Sudan, in Iraq, in Lebanon… and you have to align yourself with those forces.”
Beinart agreed that democracy was a “nice argument to have” in the U.S. because Gulf monarchies are “the last people on earth” who could inspire young Americans. “Congratulations, you have a kind of Jewish-Arab coalition for authoritarianism and for tyranny.”
Their comments are right on cue, because three days ago a prominent Emirati poet, Dhabiya Khamis Al-Muhairi, 62, reported that she feared for her life after being “prohibited by authorities from leaving Dubai International Airport to go to Cairo” because of her opposition to the normalization deal.
The remarks are also on cue because the Israel lobby has thrown itself into promoting the Gulf monarchies. Just yesterday Jewish Insider, a pro-Israel publication, had a conference call of its own in which it celebrated the United Arab Emirates as a beacon of progress.
During that call, Yousef Al Otaiba, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, made the risible claim that an authoritarian monarchy is more sensitive to public opinion, because it’s so… paternalistic.
Any country when they have to make a decision like this, they have to balance a variety of internal issues. One is economic. What are the benefits. Is trade and investment and job creation and flight– Is it enough?… Public opinion. Different countries have different public opinion inside about the relationship with Israel. People always think we don’t pay attention to public opinion inside the Emirates because we are not a democracy, and it’s actually quite the opposite. Because we’re not a democracy we have to be very in tune with what our people want and what the Street feel, and people really wanted this. This is not something that we are forcing against the popular will of the Emiratis who live in the country. There is a genuine energy that people are excited about this.
In that same panel, Democratic fundraiser and Israel supporter Haim Saban lauded Al Otaiba and the investment opportunities in the Gulf.
So this is what Israel is getting: rich friends who don’t care about democracy. No doubt the normalization deals are huge wins for Israel from the standpoint of power politics. But as Khalidi and Beinart note, they may actually make the grassroots struggle for Palestinian civil and human rights that much stronger.
“Because we’re not a democracy we have to be very in tune with what our people want and what the Street feel, and people really wanted this. This is not something that we are forcing against the popular will of the Emiratis who live in the country.” Do you suppose he actually believe this? Quite possibly. It’s amazing what people will persuade themselves is true.
As an Arab I hate this guy and every “politician” in UAE so hard…
They basically sold all of us out(I mean all Arabs). And it’s not about them only, it also goes to Saudi family, Oman, Sisi’s Egypt and so on.
Uniting in one state for security, social and economical reasons is the biggest and deepest aspirations of absolute majority of Arabs for more than a century. Instead we got “leaders” who participate in our dehumanization – at home and worldwide. Not to mention devision that they inflamed. Just what they did in Iraq, Syria and Yemen alone should show you that they just don’t care.
It feels like I live in the darkest time in my life from perspective of mentioned issues.
Also, how exactly we suppose to win “peacefully”? We were trying to do this for century. In Iraq, when we tried to kick out UK occupation, we were getting killed by UK and, surprise-surprise, Iraqi soldiers, that served to a puppet “king” and it took rivers of blood to liberate the place(unfortunatly USA took the baton of runing Arabs and other local life). My whole life I’ve seen all those “lefties” talks about “Palestinian rights” and what it gave us? Nothing, things were only getting worse all those years. And here we are – an Arab “leaders” put in prison everyone who don’t want to accept the biggest tool of anti-Arabism in the world and Arab history – zionists(alongside with UK and USA). If somebody had told me that this joke of a “leadership” like Zayed, Salman an co. would’ve fallen that low, I would’ve laughed.
https://www.juancole.com/2020/09/montesquieu-challenged-political.html
Article: “…Saudi Arabia, World’s Last Absolute Monarchy, Challenged by New Democratic Political Party”Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=AID7Yj68cSw&feature=emb_logo
“Saudi dissidents launch new party to challenge MBS” Sept. 24/20
“We believe that power stems from the people.”
Also: https://www.businessinsider.com/saudis-exiled-defy-mbs-rule-new-political-party-demand-democracy-2020-9
“Exiled Saudi Arabian dissidents have launched a political party they hope will dethrone MBS and open the door to democracy” Sept. 25/20, Business Insider, by Bill Bostock.
Dictators need to pay attention to the street so they can stomp on dissent before it becomes popular.
I understand the article but there is not much democracy to be promoted so how can thecause get stronger from that approach. “thirst for democracy” is not the same as democracy itself.
People have to be enfranchised first and I don’t see most Arab countries lining up to give power to the people.
The two democracies I see in the ME are Tunisia and Israel with Lebanon close behind. Yes there are challenges to democracy in all 3 countries but they have alot of freedoms that other countries in the ME don’t have at all.
Democracy in Egypt lasted a month or two, and everywhere else its pure lip-service even if elections are held. It reminds me of elections in Iraq when Saddam would win 97% of the vote or North Korea the same.
This is not a problem with Islam. Indonesia has great democracy. Its a problem with the ME and I think that problem has to be solved first.