ISLAMABAD: As the Gaza ceasefire inches closer, pressure is mounting on Muslim countries to reconsider their long-standing refusal to recognise the state of Israel.
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on Friday, hinted that more countries would join the accords. “Now that Iran has been taken out in terms of a nuclear threat, and they have been completely taken out—at least for a very long time—I think a lot of people are going to be joining the Abraham Accords,” Trump said.
The U.S. campaign to recognise Israel was launched in 2020 under the title Abraham Accords. The UAE was the first Gulf state to normalise relations with Israel. Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco followed soon after. The deal was presented as a peace breakthrough in the region, although no Palestinian representatives were involved in the talks. Many believe the Accords form the foundation of Trump’s Middle East diplomacy.
In May, Trump announced that the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates had agreed to business deals worth over $200 billion. Altogether, the U.S. has now made deals worth more than $2 trillion with countries in the Gulf region.
Pakistan is among the Muslim countries that do not recognise the state of Israel. It maintains a long-standing position of no recognition without a just solution for Palestine. Western diplomacy had some success when the recognition of Israel began to be discussed publicly and on talk shows in several Muslim countries.
Senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir responding to a question claimed that he was present in a high-level meeting where several television anchors met with then Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss the possibility of recognising Israel. According to Mir, many participants urged the Prime Minister to immediately normalise ties and join the Abraham Accords.
Mir said he intervened and advised Imran Khan against the move, stating, "You are not a bigger leader than Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Let us continue with his policy on Israel."
He claimed that after hearing this, Imran Khan agreed and ended the meeting without taking further steps toward recognition.
However, that diplomatic momentum was lost when Israel attacked Gaza, and Muslim sentiment shifted further after the recent U.S. attack on Iran.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian group attacked Israel. Isreal retaliated with full army might.
According to reports, at least 55,000 Palestinians killed since October 2023.
Media reports suggest that pressure is once again increasing on Pakistan to recognise Israel. Responding to a question about the reported pressure on Pakistan to recognise Isreal, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif avoided a direct answer but said, “The entire Muslim world will have to answer for Israel’s war crimes, the killing of innocent children and women, in the court of God on the Day of Judgment.”
Analysts believe that any decision in favour of recognising the state of Israel could be politically fatal for the current government, which is already struggling to prove its legitimacy to supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
By Atif Khan
Atif Khan is an Islamabad based journalist.
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