By Jake Rosen, JNS
Development-focused firms and governments reluctant to engage with Israel should recognize that partnering with the Jewish state is not only a moral imperative, but a strategic necessity.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s unveiling of the new Board of Peace prompted mixed reactions from many of the governments he invited to join. Some voiced public or private reservations about the charter itself. Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, requested revisions, while the United Kingdom declined to join altogether. As several Western governments remained noncommittal toward the initiative, the United Arab Emirates was among the first countries to sign on to the Board of Peace.
The Board of Peace is merely the latest chapter in an age-old divide within the international community over Israel’s place in the Middle East and the future of the region.
As a pro-Israel student leader, I have personally witnessed the vitriol dominating discourse about Israel, often reinforced by governments and universities. In the post-Oct. 7 world, we have seen persistent anti-Israel sentiments that interfere with and limit the capacity for coalition-building that could have been precursors for peace. These narratives falsely assume that the needs and values of the Muslim world are incompatible with Israel’s national objectives. But as I recently saw firsthand in the UAE, the facts on the ground tell a different story.
Middle Eastern coexistence is best understood by seeing it in motion. Those who embrace it invite progress, while those who reject it invite instability. Israel’s two-year-long multifront war against the Iranian-led axis of terror that included Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis—prompted by the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—reshaped the balance of power in the Middle East. Yet the regional and international focus has largely been on the Gaza Strip, rather than advancing diplomatic solutions across the broader region.
Numerous countries in the Middle East, such as the UAE, rejected fundamentalism and terrorism after witnessing these forces destabilize and corrupt neighboring societies. Instead, they embraced innovation, and in 2020, diplomacy with Israel—the Start-Up Nation and a bulwark against extremism in the region. That decision has rewarded these countries with stability and a host of new economic, agricultural and other diplomatic advances, unlike many other countries in the region.
When thinking about the importance of peace between Israel and its neighbors, it is difficult not to consider Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism. In his 1902 novel The Old New Land (Altneuland), he portrayed a utopia in which a fictional Muslim character, Reschid Bey, defends his Jewish neighbors to someone questioning their belonging.
“He prays in a different house to the God Who is above us all. But our houses of worship stand side by side, and I always believe that our prayers, when they rise, mingle somewhere up above, and then continue on their way together until they appear before Our Father,” Herzl wrote.
Recently, when I visited the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, some 124 years after Herzl wrote those words, I saw them alive in the Arab world. On the same grounds, a mosque, church and synagogue stood together. The weight of this coexistence dawned on me as I respected the customs of each religion. I removed my shoes before entering the mosque. I placed a kippah on my head while in the synagogue, and observed Mincha, the Jewish afternoon prayer.
There was something profound about practicing Judaism openly and without fear in an Arab country. For me, that is the true meaning of normalization and the most tangible example of interfaith coexistence post-Abraham Accords.
My recent experience in the Middle East reaffirmed my belief that a partnership between Israel and its regional counterparts over shared technological, strategic and environmental objectives is not only possible, but essential to building a prosperous future for the region. The goal for potable and accessible drinking water is a basic staple that needs to be addressed and could use the assistance of Israel, which has worked to bridge that obstacle. In fact, much of the current upheaval in Iran stems from water shortages, highlighting the urgency for a solution.
Development-focused firms and governments reluctant to engage with Israel should recognize that partnering with the Jewish state is not only a moral imperative, but a strategic necessity.
Peaceful co-existence is not a foreign concept to the Mideast; it is the region’s only way to offer future generations a path out of chronic instability.
