According to Jenni Frazer writing in Jewish Journal, a public ‘groundbreaking’ initiative bringing together Arabs who want normalisation with Israel has been held in London. However, no Israelis were present, because some of the delegates could have been subject to prosecution in their home countries for the “crime” of normalising relations. See my comment below.
The participants came from all over the Arab world, and were young and old, men and women, diplomats, media and arts personalities, often at odds with the leadership of their states but taking a nuanced and independent route to talking about the resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict.
Mohamed Dajani photographed at Auschwitz
Some of the delegates, such as Mohammed Dajani, a Palestinian academic who shocked the Arab world by taking a group of his students to Auschwitz, were already well known to Israeli activists.
But many of the opinions were highly significant, not just because they are music to Jewish and Israeli ears, but because this is the first time that such declarations have been made in public and on the record.
Taking place, by coincidence, on the anniversary of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s historic 1977 visit to Israel, the conference, warmly commended by US diplomat and long time Middle East peace negotiator Dennis Ross, produced some revelatory discussions and presentations. Not least were numerous personal stories about good relations with Jews, and a plea from several participants for Jews to return to Arab countries and work there for reconciliation.
Professor Dajani suggested that the stories of close interaction with Jews could be collected and published by the new Arab Council.
Extremism and terrorism were deplored, and concern expressed about “brainwashing” of children in school and of students at university level; and, remarkably, from the clerics Hassen Chalghoumi, a condemnation of the “politicization” of Islam, and from Lebanon’s Saleh Hamed, a plea to Europe to crack down on the number of mosques in which imams were preaching hatred.
In a video link from Washington D.C., Ambassador Ross told the participants that their deliberations “would have been wonderful if they had happened years ago,” but nevertheless he welcomed the initiative.
He said, “You represent the voices who say enough. The more voices like yours who are prepared to speak out, the more you will build your voice [in talking] with Israel, and the more you will influence Israel’s leaders. You represent a ray of hope: it is a courageous endeavor, but also the right endeavor, and I am inspired by your example. You know you are on the right path.”
My comment: this initiative is welcome but falls short of ‘groundbreaking’ because it does not address the elephant in the room: the Arab world’s failure to engage directly with Israelis. Accounts of how well Jews and Arabs got on together and calls for Jews to return belong in the realm of fantasy: the Arab side needs to acknowledge that they need to talk to real Israelis, most of whom hail from Arab and Muslim countries. Oddly, Dennis Ross commends them for ‘building a voice in order to influence Israel’s leaders’ – what about the Arab world’s leaders?
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