Via @EylonALevy: Massive story in @WSJ. The Palestinian Authority is facing a secession movement. The “Emirate of Hebron” wants to break away and make peace with Israel under the Abraham Accords.
“We want cooperation with Israel,” says Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari, also known as Abu Sanad, from his ceremonial tent in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city located south of Jerusalem. “We want coexistence.” The leader of Hebron’s most influential clan has said such things before, as did his father. But this time is different. Sheikh Jaabari and four other leading Hebron sheikhs have signed a letter pledging peace and full recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Their plan is for Hebron to break out of the Palestinian Authority, establish an emirate of its own, and join the Abraham Accords.
The letter is addressed to Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat, a former mayor of Jerusalem, who has brought Mr. Jaabari and other sheikhs to his home and met with them more than a dozen times since February. They ask him to present it to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and await his reply.
“The Emirate of Hebron shall recognize the State of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people,” the sheikhs write, “and the State of Israel shall recognize the Emirate of Hebron as the Representative of the Arab residents in the Hebron District.” Accepting Israel as a Jewish state goes further than the Palestinian Authority ever has, and sweeps aside decades of rejectionism.
The letter seeks a timetable for negotiations to join the Abraham Accords and “a fair and decent arrangement that would replace the Oslo Accords, which only brought damage, death, economic disaster and destruction.” The Oslo Accords, agreed to by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s, “have brought upon us the corrupt Palestinian Authority, instead of recognizing the traditional, authentic local leadership.” That would be the clans, the great families that still shape Palestinian society.[…]
Mr. Barkat says the old peace process failed, so “new thinking is needed.” He has been working with the knowledge of his Israeli government to explore possibilities with the sheikhs. A senior Israeli source says Mr. Netanyahu has been supportive but cautious, waiting to see how the initiative develops. The timing may be out of his hands now that Sheikh Jaabari is extending the olive branch in public.
Will the CIA/Mossad/MI6 tolerate this?
Accept it …. but never, ever believe it. Not even 100 years from now.
I understand these 5 are a big deal, but can’t help to think it could be a bigger deal if only those millions would look at what their entire “religion” is based upon, and simply walk away from it.
Mid-East chaos is a centuries old fight between barbarians, but
Dem’s (and Soviets before them) intentionally stir that wicked caldron for partisan purposes.
Dem’s are in demise because of their lies.
Is there any recent precedent for this which would give context for how it might work?
When the Irish saw 9-11, thought about it, and realized “maybe we can talk this through. We don’t want to be that barbaric.”
Could work. Maybe.
Dissolve Hamas and the PA, *stop calling them all ‘Palestinians’* and you might have something that could last.
Sheikh Wadee’ al-Jaabari … is still alive for another … 3-2-1 …
His Brand-X Islam will soon be murdered by Brand-Y Islam. Apostate!!!