The logic of Arab peace with Israel - from Jordan's King Abdullah I

Palestinian "resistance factions" condemned the opening of the UAE embassy in Israel, calling it a "great sin against the Palestinian people" and called the UAE "the head of evil."

There has always been a division in the Arab world between leaders who can think clearly about their people's  interests and the majority whose Jew-hatred overrides what's best for their people.

In Avi Shlaim's 2008 biography of Jordan's King Hussein. he recounts an episode from Hussein's father King Abdullah I:

One question that has continued to puzzle observers is: why did Abdullah disregard all the warnings and keep to his plan of Friday prayers in Jerusalem [the day he was assassinated]? 

One possible answer, which was long to remain a closely guarded secret, is that Abdullah had arranged to meet two Israeli officials in Jerusalem the next day, Saturday, 21 July 1951. 

The two officials were Reuven Shiloah and Moshe Sasson, who was continuing the negotiations for a peace treaty that his father, Elias, had begun. 

At one of their first meetings, Moshe Sasson asked Abdullah, "Why do you want to make peace with Israel?" The king replied, "I want to make peace with Israel not because I have become a Zionist or care for Israel's welfare but because it is in the interest of my people. I am convinced that if we do not make peace with you, there will be another war, and another war, and another war, and another war, and we shall lose all these wars. Hence it is the supreme interest of the Arab nation to make peace with you." 

Self-interest always wins. 

Unfortunately, Jew-hatred is so widespread in the Arab world that Arab leaders have to be concerned about the possibility of their regimes becoming unstable from their antisemitic subjects who hate Jews more than they care about their own country. This changes their own self-interest calculations.

The key for peace in the Middle East isn't Israeli concessions. It is to eradicate Jew-hatred from the Muslim world. If there is no antisemitism, then the benefits of peace with Israel are crystal clear.

This is obvious to anyone who isn't blinded by the lie that antisemitism has nothing to do with anti-Zionism. 

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