Arab Peace Initiative From 2002 That Called for Normalized Relations With Israel is Hardly Ever Mentioned in Media
How close was Israel to normalized relations in the the Middle East?
Long forgotten by now, as the Biden administration continues to try to present Israel as the willing partner in any deal that would bring a ceasefire in Gaza, the Arab League's 22 member states offered Israel a comprehensive formula for peace in 2002 that called for normalization in return of the land stolen after the Six Day War in 1967.
Matt Duss, the executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, and the former chief foreign-policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., mentioned the deal during a recent Q&A with the New Yorker.
The magazine brought up the Saudi deal that would normalize ties between Riyadh and Israel that was reported on in The Wall Street Journal. The hope in Washington is that such a partnership is appealing to Riyadh but the magazine’s reporters noted the “fine print,” which would “mean Israel agrees to a Palestinian state.”
“I’ll just say, once again, Netanyahu clearly understands his own politics much better than the U.S. does, than the Biden Administration does. He’ll have no problem stalling on this. The Biden Administration’s approach clearly seems to be to tee up the offer of this Saudi deal as a huge positive incentive for Israel to make commitments on the Palestinian track. And they are not even asking for serious commitments. That’s what’s so laughable about it.”
He continued, “I would add—this is something that I think needs to be understood more—that there has been an offer on the table, not just from Saudi Arabia but from the entire Arab League, going back to 2002, for full peace and normalization with Israel if Israel follows U.N. Security Council Resolutions, follows international law, withdraws from the occupied territory, and enables the creation of a Palestinian state.”
Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist, has written about this proposal and he recently noted that he once penned a column in former President George W. Bush’s voice and asked Arab leaders to “lay down a constructive peace initiative: Offer Israel full peace and normalization in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem to the 1967 lines.”