By Steve Kramer
KFAR SABA, Israel — Much of the news last week was about President Trump in the Middle East. While he didn’t include Israel in his itinerary, there’s no doubt that its presence was felt, especially when the president spoke to the decision makers in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia (aka Saudia), is now the most significant Arab state, in combination with the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. Except for Qatar, the other three have turned Westward in their pursuit of political clout equal to their economic muscle. Qatar continues to play both ends against the middle.
Not so long ago, before Crown Prince & Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) effectively took power (his father the king is now just a symbolic figure), Saudia was an outspoken opponent of Israel. Significantly, the country followed strictly orthodox Wahhabi Sunni Islam. Now, Saudi Arabia has mandated a much more modern style of Islam. It no longer has school textbooks full of blood-curdling examples maligning Jews and Israel and it has been close to joining the Abraham Accords, which looks to Israel for military protection and technological knowhow. “Vision 2030” is bin Salman’s audacious plan for Saudi’s future, in which the monarchy is spending more than a trillion US dollars to be a highly significant world leader. (See Note below.)
Do innovative, Western-leaning Saudis remind you of any other Arab peoples in Israel’s region, excluding the somewhat similar Emiratis and Bahrainis? Certainly not the Palestinian Arabs! Their target has never been improving the economy or planning for a prosperous future. No, its overwhelming goal has been simply to erase the Jews from the Land of Israel and destroy the State of Israel. There is no plan to better their people’s lives, to enrich their culture, or to build a prosperous home for them. The Palestinian Arabs are just a handy population which Hamas and Islamic Jihad for Palestine can use as human shields in their bloody quest.
Hamas isn’t forcing the Palestinian Arabs to hate Israel. They would still be the enemy of the Jews without Hamas or other terrorist groups like Islamic Jihad for Palestine. They are not an optimistic people, unless one counts dying for the cause of wiping Israel off the map as a wonderful achievement. The Palestinian Arabs themselves, by a great majority, favor these bloodthirsty plans, because they have been taught hatred for the “cursed Jews” literally with their mothers’ milk.
Their streets, their parks, their institutions are named after the “martyrs” who died in the noble cause of killing Jews. They receive monthly payments for wounding Israelis and more for killing Israelis. Their children attend summer camp, not like summer camp in Israel or the US, but camps where the youngsters dress up in uniforms with toy guns and learn how to kill Jews. Their schools are also bastions of hatred, abstaining from teaching anything positive about the State of Israel.
While many Palestinian Arabs would like to leave Gaza (or Judea and Samaria) and settle elsewhere, it appears that none of the Western countries which they prefer are willing to admit them in significant numbers. For example, Canada has mentioned 5,000, while Spain, Scotland, and America, cite only an indeterminate number.
Basically, the Palestinian Arabs are not wanted. (For much different reasons) Jews know what that’s like, given the slammed doors that Jews faced in the 1930s and 1940s. Obviously, different criteria caused the Jews to be shunned: resentment, envy, competition, etc. Unlike Jewish refugees, Gaza ones have been extremely detrimental to countries which took them in, namely Jordan and Lebanon.
Importantly, nearly all European countries that welcomed Muslim refugees in the last two decades with open arms are suffering the consequences today in soaring crime rates and welfare expenditures. Simply put, a mostly true generalization is that Muslim immigrants lack the desire to be assimilated and actually bring the culture they were escaping into their host countries.
What about Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Sudan? None has offered refuge to refugees from Gaza. Egypt claims it offers water, fuel, and food to Gaza. However, it fails dramatically in the standard procedure of allowing neighboring, war-torn Gazans a way out of the war zone. Egypt, which borders Gaza, is adamant in refusing to resettle more than a tiny token number of refugees – all of whom have paid large sums to be allowed to cross the border.
In recent times, millions of war refugees have sought refuge via neighboring countries. “By 2021, more than 6.7 million Syrians had sought refuge in neighboring countries from the 10-year crisis in their country. The second-largest refugee population is Afghan people. More than 88% of the 2.6 million refugees end up in neighboring Iran and Pakistan. Another 2.6 million people from South Sudan have fled to surrounding countries since the conflict started in 2013.” Yet Egypt has truly made Gaza into an open-air prison since the conflict with Israel began with the massacre on 10/7/23.
The Palestinian Arabs and especially the ones in Gaza have made their bed and they are suffering in it. They deserve the blame for their own condition. Despite the world trying to force Israel to “give” them a state, Israel resists. Why? Because Israel cannot allow a people who vow to destroy it to have a state in its homeland. The United States wouldn’t allow such a situation, nor would any other country. Some other solution must be reached for the Palestinian Arabs, who in no way “deserve” a state.
If the world is so intent on granting a state to deserving peoples, it should start with the 30 million Kurds, who have been seeking a state of their own for more than a century. Israel has no problem with cooperating with forward-thinking peoples like those in the Abraham Accords. The Palestinian Arabs are in no way in that category.
Note:
According to a website approved by Saudia:
“Since the launch of Vision 2030 in 2016, Saudi Arabia [inaugurated in 1931] has embarked on a remarkable story of transformation. This ambitious blueprint, deeply rooted in the country’s rich cultural heritage and strategic advantages, is steering the nation towards a more diversified and innovative economy. Vision 2030 has laid the foundations for growth, uniting the country towards a shared vision for a prosperous future. Reforms have been implemented that enhance the business climate, create jobs, and invite investment. The Kingdom is preparing its people for tomorrow’s world, a world that is connected, technology-forward, and facing climate change head-on. Saudi Arabia’s doors are now open even wider to the world, with investments pouring into sectors like renewable energy, tourism, entertainment, and other key industries. With all that’s happening in the country today and with the growing momentum of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia truly is the land of now.”
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Steve Kramer is a freelance writer based in Kfar Saba, Israel.