There is a new mood for peace in the Middle East.
Arab leaders are now saying in public what they have long believed in private: Israel is an important neighbour, security ally and potential trading partner for many Middle Eastern countries. They wish to normalise relations with Israel and help the Palestinians prosper.
We must understand this new opportunity and help the children of Abraham find peace: a new generation of young people in the region are tired of war, hatred, bigotry, boycotts and bombs. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hezbollah have brought nothing to them but loss, poverty and humiliation. So what do we do?
In the last two years, I have had the honour of visiting Israel and several Arab countries on multiple occasions. What makes sense to people there does not seem to resonate here in the West.
First, we must recognise that the opportunity for mutual peace and co-existence is for nations and peoples, and not about our own political camps. This is not about Benjamin Netanyahu or Donald Trump; it is about nine million Israelis and five million Palestinians being embraced by 350 million neighbours — 22 nations. We must transcend tribalism and focus on the bigger picture and the longer term consequences for future generations.
Second, understand that Jews and Muslims are daughters and sons of Abraham. The divisions implanted in our minds by religious fanatics needs to end. The Quran mentions Moses more often than it does Mohamed. The Quran references Bani-Israel, the People of Israel, tens of times. Muslims are asked to fast each year on yawm ashura to remember that Moses crossed the Red Sea with the Israelites, the people of God. We support the Jews, not Pharaoh. We believe in the one God of Abraham. We circumcise our men. We are commanded to eat kosher meat. Mohamed stood in honour of a Jewish funeral. He married a Jewish lady in Medina, a Jewish city, and made peace with the city’s Jews.
Maimonides remains an intellectual hero of Arabs, known by his Arabic name Musa bin Maimun. Muslims in Turkey, Bosnia, France, Morocco helped save Jewish lives during the Holocaust. We yearn together for the peace of Jerusalem. I could go on.
Third, in recognition of these many commonalities, and aware of the threats posed to regional security and stability by the fascist mullahs in Iran and their Islamist allies in the Muslim Brotherhood, several Arab countries have made overtures towards the Jewish people and Israel.
Israel’s prime minister has visited Oman. Israel’s tourism minister has visited Abu Dhabi. Rabbis have been welcomed in multiple conferences in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The Saudi-led Muslim World League has met with Jewish organisations in New York. The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohamed bin Salman, has affirmed Israel’s every right to be in the region.
The Bahraini foreign minister, and others, have praised Jewish history and contributions in the Middle East.
The Sudanese and Egyptian governments have asked their Jewish population to return home, and also sought to repair synagogues.
The Emiratis are about to start building a museum in Abu Dhabi, to be announced in New York next week, called the ‘Abrahamic Family House’, to highlight a history of co-existence.
Fourth, this new momentum in the Middle East has obstacles. Extremists on all sides will try to inject poison into social media and religious leadership to foil these noble efforts at reconciliation. The rise of antisemitism in the West, the support for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hezbollah from the Labour leadership, or the failure of the European Union to ban Hezbollah’s fundraising on the continent, are examples of another wind blowing in the wrong direction. Iran has operatives in Bahrain and other countries that will seek to subvert it. We cannot let them.
Fifth, if we bear the above points in mind, and progress towards peace, we will need to remind our friends and a new generation of Arabs and Muslims that peace and co-existence is possible. We are not seeking the impossible. After decades of leading wars against each other’s nations, Israel’s prime minister Manachem Begin and Egypt’s president Anwar el-Sadat established peace. That agreement, made on 17 September 1978 — and signed in front of then-US president Jimmy Carter on 26 March 1979 — still stands. Both men had fought in wars, condemned each other. This generation of Arab leaders has not, fortunately, fought in wars against Israel. The animosity is much lower. If Sadat and Begin could find peace, then today’s leaders can and will follow in the footsteps of the greatest president Egypt has produced.
Religious fascists killed him, but we must remember that Cairo’s Al-Azhar, the 1,000-year-old Muslim seminary, founded in 972, supported President Sadat.
Israel deserves security and Palestinians warrant justice. We must not fall for the trap of being pro-Israel and therefore anti-Palestinian., or vice versa. Dore Gold, in his book The Fight for Jerusalem, reminds us that when the Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem in 637, he invited the Jewish people back to the city after 500 years of Roman and Christian banishment.
Muslims must remember this spirit of Omar, who was among Mohamed’s closest friends. He knew instinctively that Solomon’s Temple was in Jerusalem and Jews belonged in this ancient city, the Jewish home.
Finally, that narrative of Menachem Begin and Anwar el-Sadat finding a lasting peace should have been amplified across the Middle East when Jared Kushner visited Bahrain earlier this year. He deserved praise for helping raise $50 billion over ten years for business, infrastructure, trade, security and entrepreneurship for the Palestinians. But there was no mention of history to a deeply historical people.
We have been here before, and in much tougher conditions. If we made peace then, we can make peace again. To that end, the Begin Legacy Project is producing a film on the life of a peacemaker. There are events in synagogues across London and in the House of Lords this month. Begin’s legacy and his admiration for Sadat, and Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem and address to the Knesset should not be the last, but the first of many more to come.
We can and we should imagine more visits from Israeli leaders to Arab lands, Israeli tourists across the region, and Arab tourists arriving in their millions to help boost the economies of Israelis and Palestinians.
There is a cultural shift under way in the region. On Kuwaiti television, commentators question why we Muslims do not openly embrace Israelis and Jews as the people of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Solomon, David: all prophets that are mentioned in the Quran and revered by Muslims. A popular Saudi blogger has visited Israel in recent months to much acclaim at home. Young tech entrepreneurs in the region ask why they have to travel 20 hours to Silicon Valley when Tel Aviv, two hours away, could offer lucrative joint ventures.
We in Britain should rush towards helping the formation of a new narrative based on history and our scriptures. Peace in the Middle East means peace for us here, too. Unlike Germany or Poland or France, Britain has a special place in the hearts and minds of most Arabs and Jews. Alongside America, we should look beyond today’s political personalities, but focus on peacemakers, peoples and places. Starting with Begin and Sadat. Will we?
Ed Husain is author of ‘The House of Islam: A Global History’ (Bloomsbury, 2018) and a senior fellow at Westminster think-tank Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society
