In all the flurry of delight expressed both in Israel and the United Arab Emirates over their just-announced “normalization of ties,” and the widespread speculation over which Arab countries might be next to follow the UAE’s lead – will it be Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, Sudan, Saudi Arabia? – the greatest anger at the UAE’s move has been expressed not by Arab states, but rather, by the non-Arab Iran and Turkey. Those two countries are outraged by the UAE’s actions. Iran has threatened the UAE directly, claiming it “will be made to pay” for its betrayal of the Palestinian cause. It’s a threat that makes the UAE even more certain it has done the right thing in tightening its alliance with Israel, a friend indeed when it comes to defending against their common enemy, the mad mullahs of Tehran.
One Arab state has stood out, however, in insisting it will be “the last” Arab country to “normalize” relations with Israel. That county is Kuwait. In Kuwait, all the major political parties have joined in denouncing the UAE for recognizing Israel and normalizing its relations with it, describing the step as “treason” and “a crime against Palestine, its people, and the Arab and Muslim nation.”
According to their statement, the Kuwaiti parties have claimed that such a step by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was taken “as the Zionist entity persists in its criminal practices against the Palestinian people, whether through direct or indirect aggression, arresting and humiliating the Palestinians, stealing their lands, desecrating the Aqsa Mosque, building settlements and displacing the local residents, amidst utter Arab silence except for limited faint voices.”
The parties also said they unequivocally reject the normalization step taken by the UAE leadership, calling it “unjustified and useless to its people and the Arab and Muslim nations.”
Kuwait’s history with the Palestinians would not have suggested such loyalty to the Palestinian cause. When Saddam Hussein’s troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the PLO endorsed the Iraqi move. There were 440,000 Palestinians in Kuwait when the fighting began. During the conflict and seven-month Iraqi occupation that followed, 200,000 Palestinians left Kuwait to get out of the way of the fighting. But when the Americans chased the Iraqi troops halfway to Baghdad, and the conflict had ended in Kuwait, the Kuwaiti government refused to allow those 200,000 Palestinians back into the country. Furthermore, of the 220,000 Palestinians who had remained in Kuwait, 200,000 were expelled by the Kuwaitis, who accused them of “betrayal” because their putative leader, Yassir Arafat, had approved of the Iraqi invasion, and because many of them did indeed welcome the Iraqi troops. For several decades the relations between Kuwaitis and Palestinians remained poor.
It is not really loyalty to the Palestinians alone, or even mainly, that explains Kuwait’s current insistence that it will be “the last” Arab state to normalize relations with Israel. Rather, there are several reasons for Kuwait’s attitude. Having treated the Palestinians so roughly, in expelling 400,000 of a total of 420,000, some Kuwaitis may be feeling remorse, and are determined to show their support for the Palestinians today. But even more important is Kuwait’s friendliness with, and unusual human ties to, Iran. Many Kuwaitis are the descendants of Iranian traders and merchants who since the late 18th century have been steadily moving to Kuwait to improve their prospects; some continued to marry fellow Iranians, while others intermarried with the local Arabs, but retained, and passed down to their children, their sense of an Iranian identity; this human link has not been forgotten.
When Saudi Arabia and the UAE organized a land, sea, and air blockade of Qatar to punish it for its continuing friendly ties with Iran and for its support of the Muslim Brotherhood, Kuwait refused to take part. Kuwait continues, too, to maintain diplomatic and trade ties with Iran, despite the disapproval of all the other Gulf states, save for Qatar.
In expressing its intention to be the “the last” to normalize relations with Israel, Kuwait has in mind not only, or even mainly, the desires of the Palestinians, but rather, the desires of the Islamic Republic of Iran that has made the “cause of Palestine” – and the concomitant need to destroy Israel – its own. Kuwaitis of Iranian descent, many of them very well off, provide a unique human link to Iran. The extensive trade that has for so long been carried on between Kuwaiti and Iranian merchants and businessmen continues, despite what the other Gulf Arabs want. This does not mean that Kuwaitis, even Shi’a Kuwaitis, approve of Iran, or of the Supreme Leader. They do not. But some have blood ties that link them not to the despised regime, but to the people of Iran. These are different things.
And there is one more reason for Kuwait to toe Iran’s party line against the “normalization” of relations with Israel. That reason is fear. Kuwait is much smaller, and without anything like the armed strength, in men and materiel, that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE possess. It has already experienced one invasion – that by Saddam Hussein – that demonstrated just how easy it was to take over the country. It took Saddam Hussein’s forces only two days to conquer all of Kuwait. Iran’s military is now many times more powerful than Iraq’s forces were when they entered Kuwait in August 1990; such a conquest by Iran would take its army a day.
Kuwait does not dare to deviate from Iran’s policies. It needs to march in lockstep with its mighty neighbor across the Gulf. When Iran denounces the UAE for its “betrayal of the Palestinian cause,” Kuwaitis know they must go and do likewise. And they do.
Frank Anderson says
I cannot help observing that there will never be any reform permitted in islam. Jews were condemned 1400 years ago and remain condemned today. Any representation to the contrary is prohibited under the “final, perfect, complete and unchangeable” teachings, UNLESS it is part of deception that is encouraged whenever advantage can be obtained over vile, subhuman, worthless scum kafir infidels, which all of those “who do not submit” are considered.
Viktor Frankl’s Delusion of Reprieve (Man’s Search for Meaning) was needed to survive death camps. We are not in death camps unless we make them. Believe less than half of what you see and none of what you hear from these sources.
mortimer says
Further to FA’s correct comments: Muslims cannot change Islam’s source texts, but they can ignore what they say … as well as ‘re-interpreting’ what those texts say in ways that are unrecognizable from the obvious, original meanings.
Islam is filled with dualistic passages, the second of which contradicts the first. This gives Muslims a large numbers of ways to re-interpret their doctrines according to convenience.
Islam’s re-interpretations (though highly incoherent) allow Muslims to say whatever is convenient and thus save face. This often leads to Muslims disagreeing strongly and fighting one another over the different interpretations and re-interpretations.
Islam is a world of constant incoherence often bordering on real madness.
Frank Anderson says
mortimer, I have been burned too many times by wishful thinking to seek to fail again. When a liar admits he is a liar, who openly proclaims his intention to lie in the future as he has done in the past 1400 years and present, THAT is the one time he should be believed. Any sudden reform that makes peace with Jews is a lie.
One of the first books I read about islam was our host’s Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam. Prominent in the brief, well organized and written introduction is the story of a fortified community of Jews who were attacked. They were promised safe passage if they put down their weapons and left the stronghold. Every man was murdered; and all women and children were enslaved. This is a perfect example for all believers to follow for all time.
“Fool me once: Shame on you. Fool me twice: Shame on ME!”
TruthWFree says
Agreed on the subject of any Muslim peace treaty with Israel. Trump should know better. Negotiating peace between Israel and any Muslim country is a fool’s errand as we have seen in the past. The Quran is to a Muslim the allah god’s word, and the allah god hates Jews more than any other unbeliever. In Quran Sura 5-51 the allah god says not to make friends of Christians and Jews, so any treaty is either against the Muslim god or done to further the goal of eliminating the Jews. I cannot come to any other conclusion based on 18 years of study of Islam since 9/11/2001.
mortimer says
The first time that ‘Palestinian’ appeared in Arabic in print (in reference to Arabs living in the Holy Land) was in the preface of a 1898 geography book by Ukrainian theology professor, Akim (Ioakim) Alekseyevitch Olesnitskiy; it was translated into Arabic by Lebanese writer Khalil Beidas (born of Lebanese immigrant parents in 1874 in Nazareth, Sanjak of Akka, Ottoman Villayet (Province) of Syria). The translator, Beidas, is the first Arab to put this new nationality in print. Beidas was not even the originator of the ‘Palestinian’ concept, but a translator of the work of Ukrainian Ioakim Olesnitskiy.
Arabs generally considered the entire region between Egypt and Turkey to be ‘Syria’ (Shams). The present government of Syria still considers Israel and Jordan to be provinces of Syria.
Mateen says
Thanks, Mortimer, for that information heretofore unknown to me!
By the way, the Levantine way to refer to Syria is “Sham” (no “s” at the end). Shams mean “sun” in Arabic, a different word.
Ade Fegan says
Take a number and get in line !
Rob says
Ingrates. Kuwait was the beneficiary of massive military aid to drive Saddam out after he invaded.
Adrian1954M says
You know in hindsight, should had let saddam do what he wanted…now *we* have to listen to this sorry people say why they are against peace..
Quazgaa says
Turks and iranians are more arab than the arabs.
Quite the confusion in the islamic zoo.
Red Pill says
?
FYI says
iranians have to ‘pray’ to an Arab god who doesn’t speak Farsi
It must be awkward having to ‘pray’ to a god who,inconveniently,doesn’t speak your language.
allah,the Great Sultan in the Sky, is a linguistically challenged god who insists on Arabic{koran 41:44}
allah claims he gave the Torah to Moses{the muslim one}koran 2:87
So one would expect that the Torah was revealed in Arabic then.
But what language was the Torah revealed in?
Hebrew,right?
HEBREW
In going from the Biblical God YHWH{a polyglot} to allah the Arab{monoglot} it seems allah lost the ability to speak OTHER languages.
“What!A FOREIGN TONGUE and an Arab?”
koran 41:44
Gork says
And the day after Iran closes off the gulf of Hormuz, he’ll be in line to set up an alliance.
Talk is cheap and in the Arab world.
spiro says
I’m sure glad G H W Bush rescued that
sand trap from Iraqi only to be followed up by G W Bush.
Linde Barrera says
Great article by Hugh Fitzgerald and great comments. Thank you all. I am not well read on this subject and I am grateful that JW enlightens me.
The 1 thing I am sure of is this: Islam is from Satan the devil. While there are many kind and peace loving Muslims the world over, the creature cannot he better than the Creator. And the Creator in IslamIc doctrine is NOT the same Creator as The One in the Holy Bible who is alive, loving, kind, patient, merciful, and has sacrificed Himself for the good of all His human creation made in His image.
PS-In the Quran it says “Muslims are the best of peoples.” It does not say “Christians are the best of peoples” in the Holy Bible.
TruthWFree says
Agree with you on the allah god of Islam is Satan.