When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to annex the Jordan Valley and other areas of the West Bank while running for reelection in September, Arab leaders predictably expressed outrage and condemnation.
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But do they really care? In truth, the leaders of the various Arab states are not genuinely concerned about the welfare of the Palestinian people. They just pretend that they care in order to appease their respective populations. In fact, if not for fear of the backlash that they would get from their own people, I would wager that many, if not most, of the Arab states, would be ready to have full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
The Arab world is, of course, overwhelmingly ruled by dictatorial regimes, but even dictators sometimes have to be wary of what their people think. And there is not even one Arab country in which the rulers do not face potential popular revolts.
Egypt, for example, has recently seen protests, despite a brutal crackdown on dissent by its president due to deteriorating economic conditions. Hence, it would be dangerous for his regime to appear as if it is ignoring the plight of the Palestinians by not condemning the Israeli leader's intentions to annex territory.
Inasmuch as the Arab general public might care more about the Palestinians than their rulers do, however, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not foremost on their minds.
So what is? Well, probably their dire economic situation. Egypt isn't the only Arab country in which the masses have fallen on hard times.
Other Arab states, including Jordan and Lebanon, are dealing with poor economic conditions, such as high unemployment, especially among young people, who make up a very large demographic of the Arab population, if not the largest.
It is often these people who lead protests in the Arab states as they are the ones who are educated, yet still cannot find work. Indeed, many Arabs are probably not even paying attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They are more concerned about finding a job and trying to support their families.
The rest of the Arab world has other major problems to deal with, most notably armed conflicts. The war in Syria is still ongoing. Iraq is still not entirely stable following the US-led coalition invasion of the country that removed dictator Saddam Hussein, as terrorist attacks in the country are still common.
Moreover, the Iraqi people have recently begun what seems to be a mass uprising against the country's government, demanding jobs, an end to corruption and better public services. In addition, civil war continues in Libya and Yemen. The latter faces one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Its people are too busy dying of famine and starvation to worry about what Israel is doing.
The fact of the matter is that the Arab world has enough problems of its own and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no longer a major priority.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is very likely aware of this, which is probably one of the reasons he was not afraid to promise that he would annex territory in the West Bank. He also knows that he'll get little to no pushback from the United States, whose current administration under President Donald Trump has been nothing but supportive of the Jewish state and is probably the most pro-Israel administration in US history. If ever Israel was contemplating annexing territory in the West Bank, now would be the perfect time to do it.
