The U.S. should leverage Israel’s warming ties with Arab states to promote peace.
The news that the U.S. intends to restore ties with the Palestinian Authority suggests a return to a more traditional approach to peacemaking in the Middle East — one that rejects the Trump administration’s view that U.S.-Palestinian relations hardly matter. This shift makes sense, but it would have a better chance of succeeding if it were combined with parts of Trump’s approach to the wider region.
Trump helped bring about warmer relations between Israel and several Arab states — a genuine achievement. Moves by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco to officially normalize relations with Israel will make it easier for others to do the same. The deals have strengthened ties between moderate, pro-American leaders in the region and will encourage trade, travel and technological cooperation. They should also help unify efforts to contain Iran.
What they won’t do is directly advance the cause of peace with the Palestinians. Granted, the UAE conditioned its embrace on an Israeli promise to refrain from unilaterally annexing 30% of the West Bank, which would have dimmed any prospect for peace. But the other Arab countries ignored the Palestinian issue altogether. Indeed, in convincing the Trump administration to accept its disputed claims to the Western Sahara, Morocco made a legally dubious land grab of its own.
Arab states shouldn’t have to wait for the issue of Palestine to be resolved before improving their relations with Israel. They have their own strategic interests to defend and shouldn’t be obstructed by a sclerotic and divided Palestinian leadership. At the same time, though, making peace one by one with Arab nations won’t resolve Israel’s fundamental dilemma — the fact that it can’t preserve its democratic and Jewish character without reaching a stable two-state settlement with the Palestinians.
The U.S. can help ensure that movement on one front leads to progress on the other. As Palestinian leaders had hoped, the Biden administration says it will reopen Palestinian diplomatic missions closed by Trump and resume development and humanitarian assistance. In exchange, Biden should press them to embrace the Arab rapprochement with Israel rather than fruitlessly decrying it. He should also encourage Palestinian negotiators to shift their focus from final-status talks with Israel — which have no immediate prospect of success — to interim steps that can shape the path to a viable Palestinian state.
Then, the U.S. should talk to other Arab states about making those steps part of normalizing their relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has every reason to make nice with Biden. In return for opening an Israeli trade office in Riyadh, for instance, the Saudis could call for an end to settlement-building outside of existing blocs.
The Palestinians would need to reciprocate any such moves — something else the Biden administration could press for. But Israel’s leaders would also be wise to see that a measure of generosity is in their country’s interests. Sincere gestures toward peace will strengthen Israel’s new partnerships, which remain less popular in the streets of the Arab world than in its palaces.
As Israel grows more comfortable with its neighbors, it should find settling with the Palestinians more feasible. As a friend, the U.S. can help it to keep that goal in sight.
To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg Opinion’s editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net .
