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I disagree with all four critiques of the #UAE- #Israel/ #Bahrain-Israel accords made in this @washingtonpost op-ed. @FishereEzzedine https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/21/uae-bahrain-israel-accords-are-big-step-wrong-direction/ 1/6
First, these agreements were not devised to solve the #Libya #Syria or #Yemen conflicts but to expand the circle of #Arab-Israel peace & cooperation, which is an unadulterated good. If you don't think Arab-Israel cooperation is beneficial, then there's not much to discuss. 2/6
Second, these accords do not erode prospects for 2-state solution. To the contrary they open opportunities for progress toward that goal, if only Palestinians would recognize they can leverage #Arab desire for normal relations w/Israel to advance their own interests. 3/6
Third, if the short-sighted and masochistic Palestinian response to accords the author says are "welcome" and "much-needed" is just more rejectionism and radicalism, the logical response should be to critique the Palestinians, not the accords. 4/6
Fourth, as for widening gaps between rulers & ruled in the #MiddleEast, that is the populist argument against any peace breakthrough. If we had to wait for "the people" to make peace, then Egypt & Jordan would still be at war w/Israel - but leaders lead, for good and for ill. 5/6
These accords are neither epoch-defining turning points nor inconsequential footnotes to history -- rather they are important, consequential milestones on the century-long process of normalizing the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East. 6/6
