Pakistani Clerics – Being On the Payroll of the Arab States - Will Readily Find the Islamic Logic and Rationale in Recognising Israel
By
Naveed Aman Khan
January 5,
2021
After a few
days of discussing the pros and cons of establishing diplomatic relations with
the Jewish state, the issue recedes back into the agenda. Once again debate
breaks out in Pakistan over the issue of recognising Israel. Pakistan is
convinced that the Saudis tacitly endorsed the Abraham Accords that paved the
way for UAE-Israel relations. The speed at which Israel and UAE moved forward
towards normalisation stunned everyone in Pakistan. Latest episode started
after the UAE and Bahrain decided to establish full diplomatic relations with
Israel. Pakistan’s ‘selected’ Prime Minister Imran Khan is under tremendous
pressure to recognise Israel.
After
secret meeting between the Israeli Prime Minister and the Saudi Crown Prince,
the debate in Pakistan over recognising Israel gained greater urgency.
Additionally mouthpieces of the military establishment in media has started
weighing in favour of relations with Israel. The advocacy of Israel by the
Media of the Pakistan is seen as a trial balloon being floated by Pakistan to
gauge public reaction before the formal announcement. But the balloon soon got
deflated because the nay sayers in not just the media but also in politics,
civil society, clergy and every other walk of life came out in opposition to
any rapprochement with Israel. Pakistan demands
Israel restoration of the pre-1967 borders making Jerusalem the capital of the
Palestinian State. Military Establishment and the ‘selected’ government are on
the same page.
After India
restored full diplomatic relations with Israel in the early 1990s, Pakistan has
faced a dilemma on whether or not to follow suit. Although there have always
been voices in Pakistan to recognise Israel, the dilemma was easily resolved in
a world that was much less complicated than what it is today. With much of the
Islamic world refusing to accept Israel, there was little incentive for
Pakistan to go against the tide. Doing so would mean antagonising the Arab
world which was Pakistan’s economic lifeline. Pakistan of course maintained
some back channel contacts with Israel. Former Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri,
has disclosed that Pakistani officials would often liaise with their Israeli
counterparts to deliver messages, seek and give assurances, and even discuss
security concerns involving the other country. But formal recognition, has
never been really on the table. There was a bit of a flutter in 2005 when
Kasuri’s meeting with his Israeli counterpart in Turkey was followed by an
encounter between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Pakistani
military dictator Pervez Musharraf at the UN. Even though billed as a ‘chance
encounter’ Sharon later said he never meets anyone by chance it was clear that
a back channels were active to get the two to meet and exchange pleasantries.
Israeli foreign minister believes that Israel doesn’t feel Pakistan an enemy
and faces no threat from Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
A quarter
century after the Israel Palestine peace accord, the geo-politics of the Middle
East started to once again take a major turn in the mid 2010’s. Among other
things, ‘Arab Spring’, Iran’s aggressive adventurism and expanding footprint,
the rising security challenges because of terrorism, and the seeming loss of US
interest in the region prompted new alignments. Around that time, informal contacts between Israelis and Arabs
in particular, Saudi Arabia started doing the rounds. One such meeting was
facilitated by India. Statements from the Saudi Crown Prince on accepting
Israel with caveats were also made. In 2018, a mysterious flight of an Israeli
business jet to Islamabad was reported. Although the Pakistani authorities
flatly denied any such flight had occurred, the rumour mills continued to
churn. After UAE and Bahrain recognised Israel, Sudan followed, and there were
reports of other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, were getting ready to
normalise diplomatic relations with Israel, Pakistan was in a quandary on
whether to join the band-wagon or swim against the tide.
Pressure on
Pakistan from the Arab states is increasing as well as US, to follow suit. The
unprecedented Saudi decision to demand payback of loans it had extended to
Pakistan, coupled with the refusal to extend the deferred oil facility was seen
as being part of the pressure. The UAE also refused to roll-over its loans and
further turned the screws by placing visa restrictions. The Pakistanis were
convinced that there was full-on pressure from the Arabs on the issue of
Israel. For the first time, Israel posed a real dilemma for the Pakistanis who
had to choose between standing on their ideological Islamist hobby horse on the one hand, and on
the other, protecting their interests.
The way
many pragmatic Pakistanis saw it, with the Arabs opening up to Israel, Pakistan
wouldn’t face a backlash from the Islamic world if it also recognised Israel.
Pakistanis believe there are real economic and diplomatic benefits that will
come their way if they normalised relations with Israel: India would no longer
get a walkover in Israel which would have to keep some balance in its relations
with Pakistan; Pakistan would gain access to Israeli defence equipment; Israel could assist Pakistan in
agriculture and other technology; Pakistan would be better placed to advocate
the Palestinian cause with Israel; just as India used the Jewish lobby to gain
influence in the US, Pakistan could too; Pakistan’s recognition would
disincentivise the ‘Zionist conspiracies’ against Pakistan. In any case,
Pakistan had no direct conflict with Israel and neither country posed any
direct threat to each other.
Finally, if
the Arabs were reconciled to Israel, there was no reason for Pakistan to remain
stuck in an ideological cul-de-sac.
Pakistanis
believe there are real economic and diplomatic benefits that will come their
way if they normalised relations with Israel: India would no longer get a
walkover in Israel which would have to keep some balance in its relations with
Pakistan. Clearly, strategically and diplomatically there is no real downside
to recognising Israel. The problem is basically ideological and political. Like
India, Israel is also an ideological blind-spot for Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan
has boxed itself into a corner by indoctrinating its people against India and
Israel. As a result any backtracking is now a political hot-potato, not just
for politicians but also the military establishment. Imran Khan’s vicious and
vindictive politics has further constricted the political space for the
government. The opposition will tear the government apart if it moves an inch
forward with Israel.
The clerics
too have weighed in against recognising Israel and threatened to go on the
war-path. Political preservation and Ideological purity, which includes
Jinnah’s antipathy towards the Jewish state, has taken precedence over
pragmatism. Even within the military, there are officers who are opposed to
recognising Israel. Kashmir cause which Pakistanis believe will suffer a
grievous blow if it reconciles and normalises relations with Israel.
Dreading
the political fallout, the Pakistan government and military has for now decided
to resist both the temptation and the pressure to recognise Israel. But for how
long? Although Imran Khan has emphatically ruled out normalising relations
until the three conditions given above are fulfilled, no one takes him
seriously. For one, he is infamous as ‘U-turn Khan’, and could take a U-turn on
the issue of acknowledgement of Israel. This could happen if he manages to get
off his born-again-Muslim and champion of Islamic causes hobby-horse, or
because the army decides to bite the bullet, or even because US and Arab
economic and political pressure becomes unsustainable.
As far as
the clergy is concerned, most of them are on the payroll of the Arab states and
charities. A nudge and a wink, or even a squeeze and from the Arabs should be
enough to make these fellows fall in line. In fact they will readily find the
Islamic logic and rationale in recognising Israel. Some will continue to resist. But the
naysayers can be easily controlled. The thing is that whenever anyone in
Pakistan decides to normalise with Israel, the same factors split in army,
opposition opposing the move, the clerics making threatening sounds will have
to be confronted. More than any Jamat e Islami, Jamiat Ulma e Islam and Tehreek
e Labbaik Pakistan will take the government to task. If exploited by the clerks
at this stage acknowledgement of Israel will cause regime change in Pakistan.
-----
Naveed
Aman Khan is book ambassador, columnist, political analyst and author of
several books based in Islamabad.
Original
Headline: Israel: our Impediments & probabilities
Source: The Daily Times
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/the-war-islam/pakistani-clerics-–-being-payroll/d/123985