Can Iraq establish relations with Israel?

Shafaq News / Iraq is facing a new complicated file; raised by the tripartite agreement between USA, UAE, and Israel a few days ago and opened the door of normalization between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv.. This coincided with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s visit to Washington to discuss several issues.

Fortunately, U.S. President, Donald Trump did not show his excessive enthusiasm, by praising the UAE-Israel agreement to urge Al-Kadhimi to establish direct relations between Baghdad and Tel Aviv, without taking into account the extent of Iraq’s sharp internal division over the issue.

Regarding the Palestinian cause, Iraq has always been a reliable bet to support the Palestinians in demanding their legitimate rights in accordance with international law. However, Iraq could be placed in a politically comfortable place, protected from the possibility of American embarrassment, if it armed itself with the Arab peace initiative -sponsored by Saudi Arabia which was able to achieve Arab consensus at the 2002 Arab summit in Beirut. This Arab peace initiative stipulates the principle of swapping land for peace and, in other words, Israel returning the territories it has occupied since 1967 in the West Bank to the Palestinians and contributing to addressing the Palestinian refugee issue, opening the doors of Arab capitals to collective normalizing routes.

Even with political voices inside Iraq calling for normalization with Israel, the government in Baghdad could get rid of its potential political embarrassment, recalling that on August 19th, 2020, Saudi Arabia recommitted itself to the Arab peace initiative as the best way to achieve peace in the region, even though the United Arab Emirates had already begun normalization steps with Israel.

Although Egypt and Jordan have preceded Arab countries with peace agreements with Israel, normalization still faces general rejection by the people.

 Sudan is also the next country to sign an agreement with Israel, reinforced by the statement of Foreign Ministry spokesman, Haidar Badawi, who praised the UAE's "courageous" move. But a statement issued by Sudan’s foreign ministry hours later announced the dismissal of spokesman Haidar Badawi.

Thus, there have been several voices inside Iraq calling for the UAE's example in normalizing relations with Israel, "Iraq and the Iraqis need a peace agreement with Israel -as UAE has done- especially since this is in the interests of Iraq and its people; this can push Iraq's progress in many areas, especially economic and security", The Head of the Iraqi Constitutional Future Party, Entifadh Qanbar told Shafaq News agency, and considered, “Before taking such a step, Iraq must be freed from any Iranian influence, which controls the foreign policy of Iraq and seeks to use Iraq and Iraqis as weapons of war against several countries, including Israel".

Qanbar added, "The majority of the Iraqi people are with the peace agreement with Israel, as they love life and want to live like other people, especially the UAE; and that's why Iraq needs to make a peace agreement with all the countries of the world and not just Israel.. But this requires a great effort to get rid of the Iranian occupation of the Iraqi state, and its important and fateful decisions”.

The former leader of the Iraqi Ummah Party, Mithal Al-Alusi, was one of the first to call on the Iraqi government to normalize with Israel, and told Shafaq News agency, "Iraq needs to get out of the camp of war, extremism, and illusions, and it needs to build stable relations with all the countries of the world”, adding, "Iraq needs a peace agreement with Israel, just like the UAE".

Al-Alusi noted that there is informal communication between some Iraqi political figures and Israel, but, "Iran's control of the Iraqi political scene prevents further development. If Iraqi politicians were not afraid of Iran, and Tehran does not control their decisions, Iraq would have preceded the UAE in concluding a peace agreement with Israel".

The issue of normalization with Israel does not appear to be unanimous within Iraq, "The Iraqi constitution is clear by preventing any relations or any agreements and contracts with Israel, it is not possible to make any agreement with this usurper", Saad al-Saadi, a leader in Al-Fatah coalition told Shafaq News agency, adding, "It is not unlikely that some Gulf states and the United States of America will seek to include Iraq among those seeking normalization with Israel, but this will not happen no matter what they do; political and popular forces will not allow it, whatever the cause and motives”.

Al-Saadi stressed, "We will not allow Iraq to be a supporter of such normalization processes, so how can we allow it to be part of it; the Iraqi government is demanding an explicit and public position with the normalization process between the Zionist entity and some Arab countries.. The Iraqi constitution is clear and prevents the establishment of any relations and contacts with the Zionist entity, but the government, until now, has no official position".

Al-Saadi's position is reinforced by the fact that the head of Kurdistan’s Islamic Group, Salim Hemze told Shafaq News agency, "treating Jews as a religious group is normal, the Jews are one thing and the Zionist entity is another, the Jews are in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and many other countries, like other religions".

Although Hemze pointed out, "many Arab and Islamic countries surrounding Israel have a secret good relationship with it, and have some kind of dealing and communication with Israel” and added, "the Zionist entity kills the Palestinian people and Muslims non-stop, causing many problems, and normalizing relations with it is off the table..Unless they retreat from their current positions and return the occupied territory to Palestine, Normalization is unacceptable".

"Normalization is normal with all countries, but this normalization must be on terms; reconciliation between countries is also normal, but this reconciliation must be based on the best interests of the countries”, Hemze said.

For his part, Atheel al-Nujaifi, a leader in the Iraqi Salvation And Development Front told Shafaq News agency, "Normalization with Israel is more harmful than useful to Iraq, for several reasons, including that the countries that have normalized the relationship with Israel, whether Egypt or Jordan, were in direct war with Israel, and therefore they needed the support of the United States to arm the army, and for many other reasons", and added, "In Iraq, we have no direct interest in normalizing the relationship with Israel, on the contrary, this normalization is causing major internal problems in the country”.

Al-Nujaifi warned, "This normalization will cause a major split between the authority and the people in Iraq; the Iraqi government cannot handle such a crisis, especially at this time.. This normalization will have a great impact on Iraq and the Iraqis”.