With
its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza last year, Israel found leaders
from Muslim Asia virtually standing in line for some sort of contact
with the Jewish State. In the months that followed the initial
contacts, informed diplomatic sources were almost ecstatic with the
actual and expected contacts. One individual told a Muslim leader
wavering over the matter that if he does not act soon, he will find his
country belatedly doing it anyway, but without the diplomatic bounce
and other benefits that others will no doubt see.
Whether or not there was any cause for optimism remains unclear. But
what is clear is that not a single Muslim nation has recognized the
Jewish State as a result of or since Israel’s Gaza withdrawal. There
has been a flurry of diplomatic contact and promises of things to come.
Probably the most highly publicized contact came in September 2005,
when Foreign Ministers from the world’s second largest Muslim nation,
Pakistan, and Israel met and publicly shook hands in Istanbul, Turkey.
Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom touted the meeting as the first
step on the road to more extensive relations. The Pakistanis followed
that move 18 days later with an address by their strongman, General
Pevez Musarraf, to the Council for World Jewry of the American Jewish
Congress in New York. Musharraf was encouraging, calling the Jews “the
most distinguished and influential community in America” and saying
that his country would build ties with Israel and the Middle East peace
process progresses.
Jewish leaders were ecstatic, but the move should not be attributed to
Gaza. Gaza was the public face for it, but negotiations began two years
before the withdrawal, and there were other clandestine contacts
between the two countries for at least ten years prior to the Istanbul
meeting. In 2004, Musharraf shook hands with former Israeli Prime
Minister Shimon Peres and noted that eventually their two countries
would have diplomatic relations. And while Musharraf’s actions were
indeed bold and built heretofore non-existent bridges, his actions have
been attributed to his desire for closer ties to the US at a time when
arch-rival India was forging its strongest ties with both the US and
Israel in decades.
More significant but less noticed was the public meeting between Israel
and Indonesia, the world largest Muslim nation, at the United Nations
60th anniversary gathering. Indonesia, unlike Pakistan, is a democracy
whose leaders could find themselves out of power if they antagonize
voters; something other leaders subject to popular mandates frequently
site as the main reason why they have not made contact with Israel.
Significantly, there has been no political fallout from the public
meeting and press reports indicate that public reaction has been mild
or absent, with the exception of short-lived protest remarks from
openly Islamist organizations. In March, the Indonesian government
deliberately allowed an Israeli business delegation to participate an
international business conference held in their country. Their presence
there also allowed for multiple meetings to explore further
Indonesian-Israeli commercial relations.
Some of the so-called Maghreb countries of North Africa have re-started
some level of relations with Israel after breaking them off at the
start of the Israeli-Arab violence in 2002. This includes Morocco and
Tunisia with Libya making periodic noises about the prospect of
contacts. The same process has taken place among several Gulf States,
such as Qatar, Bahrain, and others. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA) claims to have good diplomatic relations with "most Asian
nations." The Muslim states of the former Soviet Union have established
strong ties with Israel. Azerbaijan has an office in Tel Aviv, though
not full diplomatic relations like its fellow Muslim nations of the
former Soviet Union. The nation has maintained its status as “Muslim
but secular.” Recently, Azerbaijanis have complained about foreign jihadists
invading their country and agitating for a change. Thus far, native
Azerbaijaini Muslims have resisted them successfully. Turkey has had
full relations with Israel since 1949, a year after the Jewish State
declared its independence.
Two Muslim countries that have so far refused to have any public
contact with Israel are Bangladesh, the world’s third largest Muslim
nation, and Malaysia, which made headlines in 2003 when its outgoing
Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed, issued an anti-Semitic tirade at the
10th annual meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conferences in
Putrajaya, Malaysia. His reaction to the storm of protest that followed
did not help matters any. The speech, among other things, alleged that
the Jews "ruled the world by proxy." The protest against his remarks,
he said, only proved that they do. In late April, Malaysian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Ahmad Shabery Cheek's announced that his country
would not establish any contact with Israel until a full resolution to
the Middle East conflict. "Israel has not met certain conditions," he
said. "There is no reason for Malaysia to review its position." Cheek,
however, sought to place some distance between the Malaysian regime and
international firestorm that came courtesy of Mohammed's comments. "The
Jews are not our enemies," he made certain to add.
One Bangladeshi citizen remarked that he could not understand his
government’s refusal to entertain relations with Israel "when Egypt has
an embassy in Tel Aviv." He said that Israel would offer his
impoverished country "good business relations" and other forms of aid
his people need.
An official in the Israeli MFA noted that interaction with Israel has
meant prosperity for the Muslim countries that are doing it. Benefits
have come in the form of millions of dollars in trade and investment,
technology, and assistance in areas such as medicine and agriculture in
which Israel excels. "No country has ever been sorry about it. They get
so much from the relationship," he said. "Just ask the African
countries we have been helping for decades; or the Mauritanians who
have a have a state of the art Israeli hospital in their capital. We
can help in so many ways, and it is good for us, too. But we are a
small nation, and those countries that lag behind and do not start
talking to us soon might find that by the time they do, there isn’t
anything left to give."
- Asian Tribune -
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