Palestinian protesters raged at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s expected visit to the West Bank, as the American diplomat arrived in Jerusalem for a historic celebration of a recent diplomatic accord between Israel and Bahrain.
“Pompeo’s visit is not a surprise to the Palestinian people,” senior Fatah leader Mahmoud al Aloul, who has been rumored as a likely successor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said Wednesday. “All U.S. administrations were biased to the [Israeli] occupation, however, the outgoing Trump administration was not biased only but a partner in the occupation.”
Those protests hardly clouded the historic gathering underway in Jerusalem, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted Pompeo and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al Zayani. The unprecedented Arab-Israeli diplomatic meeting in Jerusalem broke symbolic ground while setting the stage for additional pacts to implement the recent normalization deals.
“The Abraham Accords declare a common vision for ‘peace, security, and prosperity in the Middle East and [all] around the world,’” Pompeo said. “Today, these new agreements Israel and Bahrain are making and that we will execute are making new strides in fulfilling that vision.”
Netanyahu reveled in “making history again” by hosting the meeting while touting the practical ramifications of their plans.
“What we’re doing is to enable the free flow of ideas, innovators, entrepreneurs between Israel and Bahrain, both directions,” he said. “And we are unleashing a tremendously potent economic force and a force for peace for the benefit of both our peoples.”
Bahrain’s envoy struck a similar note. “The invitation to deliver these remarks at your official residence is a message of trust that is greatly appreciated and well received,” al Zayani told Netanyahu. “It has been obvious the intention and keenness of all sides to ensure that the peace we are pursuing will be a warm peace that will deliver clear benefits to our peoples.”
Al Zayani offered a gesture to the frustrated Palestinians, who traditionally have hoped that the refusal by Arab leaders to make peace with Israel would force Netanyahu or another prime minister to strike a deal to their liking.
“I continue to emphasize in all my meetings that in order to achieve and consolidate such a peace, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict needs to be resolved,” he said. “I, therefore, call for both parties to get around the negotiating table to achieve a viable two-state solution as is also sought by the international community.”
Israeli and American observers, however, often point to Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat’s refusal to negotiate a compromise under Bill Clinton’s auspices in 2000 as an event that undercut the prospect of any future deal. “His rejection and the resort to violence left the Israeli public believing that there was no Palestinian partner for peace,” retired Ambassador Dennis Ross, who helped prepare Clinton’s Camp David meeting, wrote in Foreign Policy.
Pompeo, for his part, has applauded the Abraham Accords as a sign that the Israeli-Palestinian controversy no longer dominates regional diplomacy.
“For decades, this town, foreign policy with respect to the Middle East, gave the Palestinians a veto right that they could act in a way that prevented any Arab nation from engaging with the most important democracy in the Middle East,” Pompeo said in September. “We took a different view.”
The result, he added Wednesday, provides benefits for Israelis and Arabs — “Muslims will be able to more easily pray at the al Aqsa Mosque, thanks to the new flights through Abu Dhabi and Manama,” he noted — while undercutting Iran.
“These agreements also tell malign actors like the Islamic Republic of Iran that their influence in the region is waning and that they are ever more isolated, and this shall forever be until they change their direction,” Pompeo said.
