The rapprochement between Israel and the moderate Sunni Arab states offers a window of opportunity which may lead to a new era of interaction of regional cooperation, said Dr. Abdullah Swalha, Founder and Director of the Center for Israel Studies in Amman, Jordan.

He was speaking at a conference on ‘’tectonic shifts in the Middle East’’ in the European Parliament hosted by MEPs Anders Vistisen from Denmark and Bas Belder, both members of the European Conservative and Reformists (ECR) group, in cooperation with the Transatantic Institute and B’nai B’rith International.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said several times that as part of a ‘’regional approach’’ Israel can have a peace with the Arab states before a peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

In an interview with European Jewish Press, Dr Swalha noted that the rapprochement between Israel and the Arab states is based on common threats: Iran and Isis. He called for the creation of a new direction in the Middle East, which would bring Israel and Arab states together, united against terrorism. He also mentioned that relations between moderate Arab Sunni states and Israel need to be more in the open. “Publicity about positive cooperation, such as the recent Saudi proposal to Israel, is very important to promote peace”, he added.

‘’The Arab world is very interested in achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians. We can use the Arab rapprochement and common interests with Israel to push Palestinians and Israelis forward to achieve peace,’’ he said.

‘’In Jordan for example where there is a lot of opposition to normalization of relations with Israel, despite the peace treaty signed in ….., once we can get some kind of significant progress between Israel and the Palestinians, I think that the Jordanians will better understand the importance of peace with Israel.’’

Other speakers at the conference included Eli Hazan, Director for Foreign Affairs of the Likud party, Gen (ret.) Mansour Abu Rashid, Chairman of the Amman Center for Peace and Development and Smadar Perry, Senior Middle East Editor of Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, who shared some of her difficulties as working as an Israeli journalist in the Arab world. “Sometimes I have to think twice before travelling to Egypt or Jordan and to write articles”, Perry noted. “However in reality, the strategic cooperation is very strong, but is often censored”, she added.

Gen. Rashid, who fought Israel in the 1967 war, stressed the change the occurred since then.. He noted the many diverse projects his organisation is involved in, such as people-to-people contacts, agritech, security cooperation and the environment. “Especially trilateral security cooperation between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan is very important” he stressed. “This cooperation can help solve the issue of security on the eastern West Bank border in case of a peace agreement: security for Israel and sovereignty for the Palestinians”, he added.

According to MEP Vistisen the conference was ‘’the first time that we have in the European Parliament both Sunni Arab speakers and Israeli speakers talking about regional cooperation in the context of solving the Israeli-Arab conflict.”

MEP Belder emphasised that recognition of Israel’s important role in the Middle East and in the world by the Arab states in the region is needed. “If this recognition happens, then one can surely speak about a tectonic shift in the Middle East”, he said.

Eli Hazan mentioned amongst others the recently launched “Rails for Regional Peace” programme that will see a railways network connect Israel to some of the Gulf states, via Jordan. “Yet, this is only the beginning. We will turn the murky valleys into beacons of hope”, as he pointed to the potential of Israeli-Arab cooperation.