When Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi holds his first meeting with his European Union counterparts in Berlin this Thursday, he will get an unfiltered picture of the Europeans' position about the nascent peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Most of the official responses to this dramatic development – both from the EU and from individual European nations – were lukewarm at best, and lacked any genuine enthusiasm befitting a historic moment. So the declarations that the EU has always worked to promote ties between Israel and Arab countries, and sees this peace deal as a contribution to the stability of the Middle East, sound untrustworthy and can barely hide the disappointment in the EU corridors of power at peace between Israel and the UAE.
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Thus far, the EU has its doubts about this significant Middle East development, which is not even mentioned explicitly in the list of subjects that Ashkenazi and his EU colleagues are due to discuss.
The EU Foreign Affairs Council and the foreign ministries of several European member nations – including Berlin and Brussels – find the new reality being created in the Middle East hard to digest. European diplomacy prefers to cling fast to its old conceptions, according to which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies at the heart of all the troubles of the region, and only a two-state solution will end it.
Unlike an increasing number of people in the Middle East, the Europeans aren't willing to accept the insight that the Palestinians' traditional recalcitrance when it comes to any deal whatsoever is the root of the Palestinians' problems, and that the Palestinians are the ones who have prevented all the peoples of the region from addressing their own issues.
The Arab world is tired of the Palestinians, but the EU has no other trump card when it comes to policy in the Middle East, other than its blind support for the Palestinians. Indeed, the only positive the EU has found in the Israel-UAE deal is the postponement of Israel's plans to apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria.
Remember, there were EU foreign ministers who toyed with the idea of applying sanctions to Israel if it proceeded with "annexation." And now, the US and the Emiratis have managed to come up with a completely different and much more effective idea that will promote true peace and delay the "sentence."
The Europeans can only hope that the "annexation plan" will be cancelled entirely, knowing that will only happen if there is a different US president in the White House, and if they embrace those in the Israeli government who want to prevent any declaration of sovereignty. Three years ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed the support of Israel's friends in the EU to receive an invitation to a meeting of European foreign ministers that was organized behind the back of then-EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini. Now Ashkenazi is receiving a warm welcome from the current president of the EU, Germany.
There have been EU member nations, including Germany, that promoted the idea of gradual normalization between Israel and the Gulf States. However, it's doubtful they ever thought of a peace agreement between an economic powerhouse like the UAE and a technological powerhouse like Israel. Cooperation between the two countries could break down borders, in every sense of the word.
This presents the Europeans with another problem: Not everyone in the EU is happy to see Israel join the competition for the Emirati market, not to mention that the aforementioned cooperation could reduce the efficacy of the economic pressure the EU was hoping to use to influence Israel. More importantly, the Israel-UAE deal strengthens the front against Iran and the 2015 nuclear deal, to which the Europeans are also clinging desperately.
If only the European Union would drop its anti-Israel obsession, it would realize the great benefits that could grow out of the deal between the Israelis and the Emiratis, especially when it comes to the Turkish threat, which is growing daily. Maybe Israel's true friends in Athens, Vienna, Prague, and Budapest will finally manage to free Europe from its frozen thinking.
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