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Arab states' recognition of Israel is meant to target Iran. Beware of an October surprise, says Phyllis Bennis on theAnalysis.news podcast with Paul Jay

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, I'm Paul Jay, and welcome to theAnalysis.news podcast. And remember, if you like the work we're doing, please find the donate button and click it and donate something, because we can't do it without your support.

At the White House on Tuesday, September 15th, what's being hailed as a historic agreement on Middle East peace was signed. President Donald Trump, watched as the leaders of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed a deal normalizing their relations with Israel.

Just how historic is this, and what, if anything, does it mean for the Middle East, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

Phyllis Bennis

Now joining us is Phyllis Bennis. She directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in D.C. Among her many books are "Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A Primer," as well as the 7th updated edition of her popular "Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer," and "Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer." Thanks for joining us, Phyllis.

Phyllis Bennis

Great to be with you, Paul. 

Paul Jay

Before we get into just what was agreed to and the significance in a broader way, there was a day, and it wasn't that long ago, that an agreement to recognize Israel by any Arab country would have been met with, you know, storms of protest in Arab streets. I don't get a sense we're seeing that, and why not? 

Phyllis Bennis

You're right, we're not seeing that, except among Palestinians who have been completely left out of this process. You know, there are two things that this whole process was about and, spoiler alert, neither peace nor Palestine were among them.

So you're not seeing a huge amount of opposition in the Gulf countries involved, the UAE and Bahrain, these are overwhelmingly, impossibly wealthy small countries where tiny majorities of the populations are citizens. The rest are imported workers who are treated terribly, that's a different issue. But the desire to expand markets, to look at places like Tel Aviv as examples of Western modernity, which we want to be part of, is very popular in those countries.

And while there is support for the Palestinians in the abstract among the populations, the absolute monarchies that rule these countries are right in their assessment that they no longer really have to worry about any kind of serious opposition among their populations. This was able to go forward, ignoring the Palestinians, ignoring any reality of peace. These were not countries that were at war with Israel, let's be clear. So the idea that Israel is finally making peace with longtime enemies, these countries were never enemies of Israel.

And in fact, trade deals, and security arrangements, and all kinds of ties were already underway, have been for years, decades in some cases, where they were simply done quietly and out of the public eye.

They weren't covert, they were known, but they didn't get bragged about. They didn't get a lot of publicity,