Sinking in the Arab desert?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, due next week, does not have Jerusalem, the settlements or the third Intifada on his agenda. Topping his priorities is having for free a squadron of F-35 Lightning II fighters, to match the Russian Sokhoi SU 34 operating in Syria now.

As a gesture of reconciliation, the US president and the Israeli prime minister will have two rounds of talks to ratify the long shopping list that Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon had asked US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter for two weeks ago, which included a $30 billion grant in military equipment for the next 10 years.

While Netanyahu is in the US, asking for more military might for free, Washington is the only side that can put pressure on him to stop the daily carnage of Palestinian teenagers who took to the streets out of political frustration and economic deprivation.

It is only Washington that can inculcate some common sense in the Israeli premier and make him understand that the Islamic volcano is about to erupt if Al Aqsa mosque is endangered.

It is high time for Arab heads of states to ask President Barak Obama to intercede and convey to Netanyahu the fact that the Israeli intransigence is serving Daesh only, which uses, as a recruitment mechanism appeal, the continued atrocities by the Israeli soldiers against Palestinian civilians in Jerusalem, Hebron and the West Bank.

Though nearly 1,000 Daesh fighters have been killed so far, 20,000 more have joined the ranks, coming from all over the Muslim world, Europe, the United States, Chechnya and Uzbekistan, with one call attracting all of them: “Time to liberate Al Aqsa Mosque.”

Though the Syrian theatre of war is not far from Israel, many Iranian brigades in Aleppo would opt to fight for Jerusalem rather than kill more Sunni Al Nusra volunteers. 

US President Barack Obama can explain to Netanyahu that Jerusalem is the powder keg that might push the whole region, from the Gulf to the Mediterranean, into flames when it explodes.

The US president is keen to have a member of his Democratic Party succeed him as president. This is an opportunity to emphasise his political legacy as one who managed to restore peace to the holy land, and in a way different from his secretary of state, John Kerry, who quickly lost all stamina and preferred to be a bystander.

Netanyahu should be warned by Obama that in this part of the Middle East, the quiet Arab desert has often lured and trapped inexperienced travellers by its calm mirage.