Sometimes, there's a path to peace that's so simple, so elegant, you wonder why it took until now for someone with the power to do something about it to do something about it.
The United Arab Emirates has entered the peace chat.
The intractable problem with the Palestinians is that neighboring Arab states can't afford to let them in, and the Israelis don't want to lose their souls running a permanent occupation, but time and time again, they've proven they can't be trusted to rule themselves.
The little kingdom of Jordan, usually peaceful and decently run, let in thousands of Palestinian refugees after the 1948 war, and thousands more after the 1967 war. For his generosity, King Hussein had to put down the Black September attempt by Yassar Arafat's PLO to depose him and take over the country.
Syria kept tighter control over its Palestinian refugees but still found them plenty troublesome. Hamas takes its name from the city of Hama, which Assad père turned to rubble in 1982 as his heavy-handed solution to Syria's Palestinian problem.
Those gracious Muslim rules of hospitality only apply to the hosts, I suppose, because the Palestinians have never been well-behaved guests.
When Egypt was offered Gaza back (they'd ruled it from 1948-1967) as part of the 1979 Camp David Accords, Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat said, "What, you think we're schmucks?"
So the problem now in Gaza is that the place needs to be rebuilt but A) Hamas can't be trusted to do it and B) Israel doesn't want to do it.
Today's big news is that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have "reached an agreement in principle on Wednesday on how to manage the Gaza Strip in the days following the war," according to a report today in Israel Hayom.
The UAE is "willing to build the Strip in such a way that it does not pose a threat to Israel. The Emirates leads the Arab world in opposition to jihad and the use of Islam for violent purposes, and is willing to instill these values."
Furthermore, "Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy to the Middle East and the one who brought about the closing of the agreement to release the hostages, is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days," presumably to help broker the details and (perhaps) get the Gazans on board.
If I had to describe Abu Dhabi's leadership, it would be "Trump-style swanky, but with robes and oil money instead of suits and a TV show. And the tans are presumably real." Given the chance, the Emirates would turn Gaza into the "Paris of the East" that Beirut was 60 years ago (before Lebanon's Palestinian troubles) — with gambling, booze, whoring, and plenty of money thrown around to keep everybody happy.
But there's always a rub.
In this case, before the plan can be initiated, Abu Dhabi insists that "it is not Israel that should initiate the next stage, but the Palestinians themselves."
If Hamas issues the invite, it will come with conditions rendering the anti-terror provisions moot — and the Emirates would be fools to accept it. Say what you will about the Emirates, but they are nobody's fools. So how would this invite work in practice? A poll? A referendum? How to guarantee that either would be legitimate, particularly in the eyes of the Gazan Arabs?
There is a potential out. Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer "hinted in the Knesset," as the Hayom report put it, that "American or international sponsorship could also kick-start the process." Now that the U.S. has a strong chief executive once again, the Gazans might just have to acquiesce to UAE overlordship. In time, maybe they'll come to enjoy peace and prosperity more than they do murdering Jews.
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