As Arab states recognize Israel, Egypt’s “cold peace” points to challenges ahead

Ramadan has said he was unaware of the singer’s nationality. “If I had known, I would certainly have refused to take the photo,” he wrote on Facebook last month.

Egypt was the first Arab country to recognize Israel more than 40 years ago, but the nation’s relationship with it shows the challenges of translating government ties, often driven by mutual security interests, into goodwill. It also represents a precautionary tale for Israelis seeking acceptance from the Middle East and North Africa through the normalization of relations with governments.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forged diplomatic relations with Israel in September, uniting against Iran in a U.S.-sponsored agreement that marked broader diplomatic realignment in the Middle East.

A month later, Sudan agreed to normalize ties, after the U.S. pledged to remove it from the list of countries designated state sponsors of terrorism. In December, Morocco became the fourth Arab state to agree to open diplomatic relations with Israel, in exchange for the United States recognizing its sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region.

The United States is also trying to negotiate a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, another rival of Iran, and with other Arab-Muslim-majority countries.

Historically, Arab states have rejected formal diplomatic ties with Israel while their conflict with the Palestinians is still unresolved. Several factors, including shared security interests and agreements brokered by the Trump administration, brought the parties together. After the UAE agreed to formalize ties with Israel, the Trump administration agreed to sell more than $ 23 billion in arms to the UAE, including the advanced F-35 fighter.

Across the region, sympathy for the Palestinians is deepening, reflected in recent protests in Sudan and Morocco against normalization agreements and campaigns calling for boycotts of Israeli products and institutions.

However, Israeli officials have noted the new offers and the warm welcome Israelis have received in Dubai when traveling for work or pleasure as a sign that many in the Middle East are willing to accept them.

“It’s weird and funny that a simple photo with an Israeli creates all this controversy,” said Lior Ben Dor, an Israeli diplomat in a video in Arabic responding to Mohamed Ramadan’s controversy. “We understand your solidarity as Arabs with the Palestinian people, but do you really believe that criticizing Mohamed Ramadan will serve his cause?”

For ordinary Egyptians, a combination of opposition to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, persistent hostility from when countries were at war, and dislike of some officials means contact with Israelis is rare. The ties that exist are often secret.

The only direct flight from Cairo to Tel Aviv is not listed in the public schedule of Cairo airport and flies without an Egyptian flag. Exchanges between Egyptian and Israeli academics, artists and members of parliament are rare. Israel ranked 27th among Egypt’s trading partners in 2018, according to World Bank data. Institutions linked to the Egyptian government, such as trade unions, deter its members from contact with the Israelis.

This persists despite Egypt’s close security cooperation with Israel and President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s openness to his warm relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The so-called cold peace is the result of a dual Cairo approach in which it maintains a warm relationship at the top, but limits social and institutional ties, in part for fear of losing public legitimacy.

“We have never had such good relations with Israel, but it is only between Sisi and Israel. Anything else is not allowed, “said Hisham Kassem, one of Egypt’s leading political analysts.

The complicated relationship began shortly after Cairo made peace with Israel in 1979, after the war of October 1973. The treaty allowed Egypt to regain control of the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had previously captured in the Six Day War of 1967. The 1973 war and the recovery of the Sinai are considered a national triumph.

Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt from 1981 until his overthrow in 2011, maintained the peace treaty but did little to foster contact between Egyptians and Israelis. He came to power at a time of rebellion and militancy in the Middle East, after the revolution in Iran, and Mr. Mubarak chose not to promote a peace deal that remained unpopular with many Egyptians.

His decision was linked to public skepticism about Israel and sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Left-wing and Islamist political parties mobilized against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the wars in Lebanon and Gaza. Cairo continued to be an important center for the Palestinian diaspora, which hosted activists, refugees and intellectuals. Egyptian television and cinema, which today is heavily controlled by the Egyptian security state, has long portrayed Israelis in a negative light and glorified past wars with Israel.

More than a dozen well-known Egyptians have been on fire for dealing with Israelis in recent years, including Muslim and Coptic Christian religious leaders, writers, intellectuals and artists in the country. Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the former head of Al-Azhar in Cairo, the largest scholarship institution in Sunni Islam, has faced widespread criticism for shaking hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres in 2008.

“It was not this handshake that would destroy the Palestinians,” Tantawi said in his defense.

Israelis argue that they face fewer challenges to cultural normalization in the Gulf region, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, given the lack of past wars between countries. Thousands of Israelis are traveling to the Emirates this month as tourists, many of them excited about the new diplomatic relationship.

Meanwhile, when an Emirati investor bought a stake in Beitar Jerusalem in December, supporters of the Israeli football team spray-painted “F — Dubai” at its stadium. The club’s management has said that the anti-Arab fans by whom Beitar Jerusalem is known represent a minority of fans.

Israel faces more popular resistance to normalization elsewhere. In Sudan, the peace agreement is already faltering due to internal opposition. The king of Morocco is also facing political pressure not to deepen ties with Israel, including the country’s prime minister and parliament.

Israel also faces the challenge of establishing diplomatic ties with autocratic governments that may disagree with popular sentiment about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The president of Egypt is a former general who overthrew his chosen predecessor in a coup, while the Emirates is a federation of absolute monarchies.

“Israelis would be worried if there were democratically elected governments in any of these places. This could threaten these relations, “said Khaled Elgindi, a senior member of the Middle East Institute in Washington and a former adviser to the Palestinian leadership in negotiations with Israel.

Write to Jared Malsin to [email protected]