Israel And North Africa

Rashid Khashana     Al-Hayat     2003/08/11

At this stage, Iraq and North Africa represent Israel's first two priorities. With regards to Iraq, the road to Baghdad is now open to Israel for the first time ever, and so the Israelis are setting detailed plans, most of which were ready before the war in Iraq, to invade the country through trade, politics and security. As for the North African countries, they have a symbolic role, as well as a certain strategic importance, because Israeli views them as the weakest link towards initiating the normalization process they hope to establish with all Arab countries. Indeed, it hopes that by establishing such relations with North Africa, it would become better accepted and "appreciated" by its neighbors.

The fact is that the U.S. is exerting considerable pressure on the North African governments to take more measures towards normalizing relations with Israel, just like Mauritania did. But in doing so, the U.S. overlooks all the danger that such policy could have on the stability of these regimes, as the last events in Nouakchott demonstrated. 

The Americans aren't settling for the distribution of Israeli goods in North African markets, which mainly transit through Europe, or for the steady communication between Israeli and North African intellectuals and academics, or even for the secret communications existing between government representatives. They insist - in accordance to Israel's wishes - that there be official and public relations that would break the "psychological barrier" and encourage the normalization process with the rest of the Arab countries. It is in this context that the last meeting was held in London between the foreign ministers of Morocco and Israel. Even though the results were kept secret, it was no secret that the Israeli government presented a list of initiatives and steps to foster bilateral relations at the political, cultural, security and sports levels, in an attempt to exploit the ceasefire agreement reached with the Palestinians, even though it is clear that not one move was made towards reaching a true and comprehensive solution. This means that Israel is selling the crops that haven't been sown yet, knowing in advance that it will never present them.

There is no doubt that the North African governments won't take any unnecessary steps that would bring them domestic problems. At times, they circumvent and at others, they cave in; but by responding positively to the desire for normalization, they are mainly driven by the political hope to obtain Washington's support in regional conflicts. Relations with Israel represent an important card to get some esteem from the current U.S. administration, more than with the former administration. Thus, the North Africans are competing to bring Washington to their side, at the expense of the opponent, which is none other that the neighbor and brother. Over the past ten years, since the Oslo Accords, it has been proven that no one reaped any benefits from having good relations with Israel, and that the road to normalization is full of traps and dangerous curves. 

Despite that, some are still pinning their hopes in this relation, unaware that they are playing with fire by ignoring internal reactions, and thinking it is easy to catch the ropes that Israel is throwing into the region, by giving an increasingly important role to its Jews of North African origin, as well as to the Jews living in North Africa. But the number of North African Jews who preferred to settle in France or some European country rather then move to the "Promised Land," is the best response to the Israeli project.

In all the pending issues in North Africa, starting with Lockerby and ending with the war on terrorism, Washington has made it clear to these governments that good relations with Israel will improve their place in the list of friends, and qualify them to receive aid. Thus blackmail was allowed, despite the clear Arab decisions about this matter, especially those issued at the Beirut and Cairo summits.