Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
I just returned to Washington from a trip to the UAE following a week-long visit that entailed a major conference and several visits/meetings and engagements around the Gaza war, Hamas, the future, and regional action steps. I met with senior current and former Arab, Israeli, and US officials at the highest levels who were engaging in open, frank, and transparent discussions. On the one hand, there’s a clear vision on proceeding to ensure that Gaza can be reconstituted and rejuvenated, not simply reconstructed. On the other hand, there’s a stalemate related to Hamas’s intransigent control of the coastal enclave and fascistic rule that’s killing Gazans and getting Palestinians in the coastal enclave decimated through cowardly acts of “resistance.” The Abraham Accords, regardless of their limits and challenges, have transformed the possibility of peace, integration, cooperation, and relationship-building across the region. I had a chance to share sorely lacking Gazan perspectives with policymakers who wanted to hear something beyond the stale, ineffective, and disastrous resistance narrative. Additionally, I had a chance to meet with Palestinians and Gazans who feel unheard, unrepresented and unfulfilled by the current “pro-Palestine” discourse, particularly in the Western world, where the narrative has been hijacked by ignorant, unhelpful and immensely harmful voices with no skin in the game and no realization of the damage inflicted by Hamas and other terror groups on the just and urgent Palestinian aspirations for freedom and independence. This trip was a helpful boost to my morale and that of all who are seeking peace and a different Middle East. Still, I was depressed by the fact that so many Arab officials are willing to make incredibly poignant statements in private, but the same officials are reluctant or outright unwilling to say the same thing in public – and if you know the Arab world and how it works, private statements don’t mean much. Nevertheless, I’m grateful to know that there are true and diverse partners for peace, equality, and stability in the Middle East.