The new agreements are meaningful but they do not resemble earlier ones. Trump and Netanyahu wanted a victory photo that would obscure their failures in the COVID-19 crisis, but in both cases, it is doubtful that the White House delivered the goods.
A revolution in the relations between warring nations is always a dramatic event that stirs up emotions, and not only for the nations involved in the conflict. The world gets excited when bitter enemies convert their enmity to friendship. Native American tribes which transitioned from war to peace arranged ceremonies where their leaders smoked a peace pipe. To let the world know that they had achieved peace, they blew the smoke to the four winds of the heavens. In modern times, an event like this is accompanied by impressive ceremonies broadcast live on television and the internet, from one end of the universe to the other.
President Jimmy Carter started the tradition of hosting peace ceremonies between Israel and Arabs at the White House. The first ceremony was held in September 1978, after the signing of the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt with the cooperation of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. The second ceremony was held after two men signed the peace agreement in the same place in March 1979.
President Bill Clinton initiated and conducted the next pair of ceremonies. Despite the fact that the United States was not involved in the secret talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, Clinton extended his sponsorship to the agreement they had reached, and set up a peace ceremony at the White House in September 1993, with the participation of Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat. A year later, Clinton, Rabin and King Hussein signed a peace agreement with Jordan in a ceremony, this time held in the Arava.* Thousands of people participated in all these ceremonies, and they were broadcast around the world by thousands of journalists.
The goal of the ceremonies was to raise public opinion in favor of the agreements among the signatory nations. Their presence at the White House was meant to demonstrate the support bestowed upon them by the United States and its allies.
In Israel, there was opposition to relinquishing the Sinai in exchange for the peace agreement, and in Egypt, there was hostility toward relations with Israel. The PLO and Israel had sworn that they would never recognize each other and would not negotiate. Despite the positive relationship between Hussein and Israeli leaders, Hussein’s people spoke quietly about their hatred for Israel. The ceremonies were meant to dismiss public opposition to the agreements in the Arab world and in Israel, and to create a dynamic of trust and full commitment in the region.
The current agreements with the UAE and Bahrain are important, but they are not at all similar to the previous agreements and ceremonies. These are not peace agreements between countries who have fought each other. This is a normalization of relations which have already existed for two decades. There is no opposition to the agreement with the UAE in either country, and unlike the Arab world which condemned and boycotted Egypt over the peace agreement that it made with Israel, today most of the Arab world blesses the normalization of relations with the UAE and Bahrain.
Heads of state participated in the previous ceremonies. This time, the more important Arab side of the agreement was represented by foreign ministers. The previous ceremonies charted new territory, but it was not clear if either side would carry out the agreements. This time, the pace of normalization is happening faster than the ceremony.
Trump and Netanyahu wanted a victory photo that would obscure their terrible failures in managing the horrific COVID-19 crisis. Trump is lagging behind Biden in the upcoming presidential election, and he doesn’t have any foreign policy victory in his bag of tricks.
The ceremony for the peace agreements provides him with diplomatic achievement. The ceremony is also useful to Netanyahu because it demonstrates international standing and diverts attention, at least temporarily, from the COVID-19 crisis.
In difficult economic times, Carter’s impressive peace ceremonies did not help him win a second term; today Trump finds himself in the same situation. In the coming days, it is doubtful whether the ceremony will strengthen Netanyahu’s position. In both countries ,the pandemic and the economic crises are much more important than a ceremony.
*Editor’s note: The Arava is a region south of the Dead Sea, which forms part of the border between Israel and Jordan.
The writer is a lecturer and expert on the United States and international media at Bar Ilan University.
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