Israel Matzav

Normalization doesn't matter to Israelis, threatens Arabs

Everyone has always assumed that peace with an Arab country would mean 'normalization,' which includes business relations, tourism, cultural exchanges and all the things that countries with normal relations do between themselves. Thirty years after the peace treaty with Egypt and fifteen years after the peace treaty with Jordan, it's clear that's not happening. Here's an interesting perspective on why.

In fact, normalization is not so important to Israelis. Most do not want to integrate culturally into the region – they just want their neighbors to let them live in peace. One indication for this is the poor state of Arabic language instruction in Israeli schools. Less than five percent of Israeli students finish high school with a meaningful (although far from satisfactory) knowledge of Arabic. The conflict is largely responsible for this reluctance, but is not the sole reason. Even in the heyday of the Oslo accords, the number of students who took advance Arabic language courses did not increase, even in parts of Israel where the process was cheered.

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While Israelis don’t see normalization as a real strategic asset, Arabs – regimes and citizen alike – view it as deep a strategic threat. This perception must be understood if we wish to ever resolve the conflict. First, the autocratic nature of Arab regimes must be taken into account. For a regime such as Syria’s, the prospect of dozens of thousands of tourists coming from a free society such as Israel poses a potential risk to its foundations. These tourists may bring dangerous ideas along and tell locals about free elections or freedom of speech.

Second, there exists the danger that cultural interactions between the two sides will lead to hatred rather than understanding. Historian Bernard Lewis once relayed that Jordanians felt Israeli tourists were acting triumphantly while visiting their country. Lewis comforted his Jordanian friends, "[The Israelis] are acting this way towards everybody," and concluded: "The tragedy of the conflict is that the most polite nation [the Arabs] is encountering the most impolite nation [The Israelis]." Perhaps Prof. Lewis was exaggerating (are we that impolite? Get out of here!), but the point nevertheless deserves our attention: cultural encounters, when improperly constructed, do not always advance relations.

Third, normalization with Israel underlines the ultimate historical failure of some Arab regimes, especially in Syria. Arab attitudes towards Israel can be divided into two groups: Those who reject any recognition of Israel and seek to destroy it; and those who reject Israel as an historical or a cultural entity, but accept it as a political reality. Arab regimes can perhaps justify the signing of agreements with Israel in the diplomatic sense, but it is much harder for them to welcome Israelis, a welcoming that essentially entails a legitimization of the Zionist project, which their publics strongly object to.

Read the whole thing.

He's largely correct. While I visited Egypt during the euphoria of 1980 (yes, really, my grandmother a"h took me and I have the pictures to prove it), I have no desire today to visit any Arab country (okay, maybe Morocco, but certainly none of the ones around here). I also do not share his conviction that peace will happen eventually. I'm not convinced.

Note that he doesn't really discuss normalization with the 'Palestinians.' That's light years away.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:43 AM