

  • Opinion by Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury (singapore)
  • Inter Press Service


Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner were brokering a strategy of "outside- in" to resolve this "core" Palestinian crisis in the Middle East. It entailed the strategy of getting Arabs further away from the "centre", that is, Palestine to create greater pressure on the already besieged Palestinians. The pillar of the deal was that the West Bank would not be annexed.







What has been the global reaction to this event? The United Nations and its Secretary General , Antonio Guterres, hardly in a position to, first ,give umbrage to the White House, its provider of financial sustenance, and second, to oppose any peace treaty anywhere, cleverly linked the ‘normalization' to the hope for a two-State resolution of the Palestinian issue.

But Abu Dhabi surely realized that the US was too divided to satisfy all sides, when Trump's rival, Joe Biden, unable to offend Israel and at the same time unwilling to give Trump any credit, focused mainly on the key issue of annexation. He said: "Annexation would be a blow to the cause of peace, which is why I oppose it now, and will oppose it as President".

Much of the rest of OIC, led by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was opposed. Abbas denounced the deal outright. The famed Palestinian negotiator, Hanan Ashrafi, called it a "sell out by friends".

Rejecting the Accord, Hamas saw it as serving the "Zionist narrative". Iran, a vowed enemy of the Arab monarchies and sheikhdoms (except Qatar- such are the intricacies of the complex intramural Middle east policies), termed the UAE's action as "a strategic stupidity", and equated it with "stabbing the Palestinians in the back".

An equally livid Turkey stated that "history will not forget and never forgive the hypocritical behaviour of the UAE". In South East Asia , close to my perch in Singapore, in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur officials have so far been tight-lipped, though former Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia called the accord "a step backward for peace ", and warned that it would "divide the Muslim world into warring factions" with Israelis adding "fuel to the fire".


It said that the deal "has far reaching implications" and that "Pakistan has an abiding commitment to the full realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the right of self-determination ", obviously bearing Kashmiris in mind. It added "Pakistan's approach will be guided by our evaluation of how Palestinian rights and aspirations are upheld, and how regional peace, security and stability are preserved". Like motherhood, no one could quarrel with that line of sentiment.



This story was originally published by Dhaka Courier.
