Yesterday, two exciting things happened in the Middle East that indicate the possibility of further progress towards peace. One was the announcement by Hamas, of ”ceasefire understandings” with Israel in anticipation of further peace talks.
Read: Hamas announces ceasefire understandings with Israel
In and of itself, Hamas’ announcement would be a positive note…although as one of my commenters noted, we’ve heard such before. What adds to the excitement however, is something else that happened today. This morning, for the very first flight ever, Israel’s El Al airline few from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport across Saudi Arabia directly to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. This is huge! It’s one thing for an Arab country to quietly cooperate with the Israeli military to whack the odd terrorist leader here or there. It’s quite another to establish public, commercial air service between two heretofore hostile capitals.
Read: Israeli jet flies to U.A.E. for 1st direct commercial flight, using Saudi airspace
And: First Israeli commercial flight to UAE today signals vastly enhanced access to Asia and Australasia
Friendly and visible relations between two formerly hostile powers can be difficult to achieve. This newfound state of affairs was announced in a previous article by my good friend and colleague Brandon Morse, where he wrote about this recent change in status between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Here in my opinion is the money quote (emphasis mine):
The leaders of the respective nations say they are confident that this initial agreement will spawn others to follow, resulting in more trade, communication, and security throughout the region.
Back in January, I wrote a short piece on how all this works. I posited the likelihood of accelerating successes as President Trump puts what the military calls “enablers” in place that will help foster success down the road.
President Trump likely didn’t lay down the DIME template and then execute according to its metrics. He did, however, deliberately focus on economic and military preparedness objectives. He had focused on those two elements in his campaign and has throughout his term since elected. With those put in place, his diplomatic and informational (Twitter) have had much more effect than they might have given a weaker economy and military.
President Donald J. Trump decided to put all the enablers in place, Diplomacy, Information, Military, and Economic. It’s an analog of how we went to Baghdad in 2003. I’ve often heard, “20 days to Baghdad.” That was incorrect…it was the better part of 2 years (of preparation) followed by 20 days of execution.
Read: Trump Luck, When Preparation and Opportunity Meet, or MAGA Meets DIME
As indicated in the American Thinker article above, by my good friend and writing mentor Dr Thomas Lifson, direct flights between Israel and United Arab Emirates will prove a huge economic boon to the region. There is no question about that.
The biggest boon however, will come about as I’ve written previously, will be due to the old saw,”Success begets success.” President Trump’s continued emplacement of economic, military, informational and diplomatic enablers is starting to show results. Here is the best part—each success, large or small, in and of itself, becomes another enabler for more success.
Hamas and its fellow travelers were quick to denounce the recent announcement of diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE. I find it rather interesting however, that on the day of the first commercial flight, Hamas saw fit to announce what appeared to be face saving “ceasefire understandings” with Israel. It’s almost as if signatures on a piece of paper could be verbally condemned without further action, while the open and notorious resumption of commercial activity sent a message they truly could not ignore.
MAGA is meeting DIME and showing success. We should anticipate an acceleration in Middle East peace progress as each success turns into another enabler. We should also anticipate More members of the Arab League hastening to get on the bus before they get left behind.
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