My Arab friends have told me a number of times in recent weeks that the Jewish population has absolutely no idea to what extent the normalization of relations with the Persian Gulf states has caused political upheaval in Israel’s Arab community.
Without giving up even a single centimeter of land in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s new peace treaties have had exactly the same effect among the Arabs as the failed Camp David discussions had among the Jewish population. Both sides understand that a Palestinian state by mutual agreement is impossible. For the Joint List, a coalition of Arab parties that holds 15 seats in Knesset, Benjamin Netanyahu’s new Middle East peace doctrine is a confirmation that the idea of a Palestinian state is dead. On the other hand, the Arab voters regard Israel’s new alliances as a sensational development that will bring about a financial boom.
Arab friends from Jaffa and Haifa, as well as Bedouins from Rahat and Segev Shalom, emphasized to me that every new peace between Israel and another Arab country is a blessing...
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