President Donald J. Trump, joined by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, acknowledge applause and wave to the crowd after delivering remarks at the Abraham Accords signing Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

During a talk at the Brookings Institution, John Kerry, then secretary of state for the Obama administration, stated, “Palestinian peace was a precondition for Israel to make peace with its Arab neighbors,” as reported by the WSJ.

According to John Kerry:

There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world. I want to make that very clear to all of you,” “I’ve heard several prominent politicians in Israel sometimes saying, well, the Arab world’s in a different place now, and we just have to reach out to them and we can work some things with the Arab world, and we’ll deal with the Palestinians. No. No, no and no.

Breaking News

In U.S.-brokered negotiations this year, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan agreed to normalize relations with Israel without a resolution in the Palestinian conflict, continues the WSJ.

The Abraham Accords were achieved more or less by reversing team Obama’s Mideast policy, and closer Arab-Israeli cooperation puts the U.S. on a firmer regional footing.

Everyone makes mistakes, and Mr. Kerry was reflecting (at the time) the consensus of professional Washington and the Mideast peace industry.

Yet the deals show that hard power and shared interests matter more in world politics than center-left sentimentality. Israel and Sunni Arab states have a common threat in Iran and can benefit from mutual investment. Let’s hope the Biden Administration doesn’t throw away this progress.

Previous articleAmerica Deserves Better Elections
Next articleElection 2020 Data Altered in All Battleground States
Debbie Young
Debbie, our chief political writer of Richardcyoung.com, is also our chief domestic affairs writer, a contributing writer on Eastern Europe and Paris and Burgundy, France. She has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over five decades. Debbie lives in Key West, Florida, and Newport, Rhode Island, and travels extensively in Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga. Debbie has completed the 200-hour Krama Yoga teacher training program taught by Master Instructor Ruslan Kleytman. Debbie is a strong supporting member of the NRA.