When Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni first attended the 8th Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade in Qatar, she called on Arab countries to welcome Israel into their midst, and to change their perceptions of the Jewish State. She returned to Doha as Prime Minister in April 2018 to attend the forum's 18th edition issuing similar pleas. Her decade-long search for recognition came to naught though she was anxious to crown an otherwise colourless tenure with a modicum of substance. Why did Livni fail in her quest for inclusion?
At the April 2008 forum, Livni declared that she was in Qatar "to extend Israel's hand of peace to all Arab countries", depicting the Israeli-Qatari dialogue as a symbol of what could be done achieved. She spoke to an international audience of former policymakers, asserting that "peace [required] compromises on both sides", though she also admonished them to back Palestinian leaders for the latter "to take the ... right decisions". Palestinians allegedly needed such encouragement because Arab leaders, as well as "Arab public opinion", were not sufficiently sympathetic.
Audaciously, Livni pleaded with participants to "change the way Israel [was] perceived, ... not for the sake of Israel, but for the sake of the Palestinian people." This was daring to say the least since Arabs have long accepted Israel's de facto existence. What they challenged was its unilateral de jure recognition. The latter necessitated an Israeli acknowledgment of the right of Palestinians to their own independent, sovereign and, most critically, secure state, within clearly defined borders. Even if one gave Livni the benefit of the doubt - that Israel desired to live in peace with its neighbours - there was the pesky little problem of overwhelming militarily superiority over all combined regional forces.
Parallel to her goading of Arab states to forge unilateral ties with Israel - which was somewhat disingenuous after Israel rejected the 2002 Beirut League of Arab States peace plan - Livni used the Doha forum to pit Arabs against Persians.
In 2008, she insisted that Iran was an extremist country, and that "this [was] a threat and challenge to the entire region". As prime minister in 2018 Livni skirted the entire question, especially after Iran joined the nuclear club a few years earlier, though she told reporters in Doha that her past efforts to create a gap between Arabs and Iranians was not particularly successful.
Regional security
Ironically, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was more popular in the Arab World in 2008 than several indigenous leaders, and a majority of Arabs believed that Tehran's nuclear weapons programme actually enhanced regional security.
Still, Livni repeated that Iran undermined Arab regimes, supported "radical" Shiites in Iraq and Lebanon, and backed Hamas, the elected "terrorist organisation" that never abandoned Gaza. She haphazardly placed Israel in the same camp as "moderate" Arabs against so-called "radicals," ostensibly because both were fighting terrorism. Boxed in the radical camp and as an alleged supporter of terrorism, the argument that Iran was thus a threat to Arab security was routinely dismissed by GCC leaders, who invited Ahmadinejad to attend their annual Summit in December 2007.
Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasim Bin Jabr Al Thani, the affable Qatari foreign minister, insisted that "Iran [was] a neighbour" and that regional stability was critical to each and every state. He contended that disputes would be solved peacefully, especially with Iran, and that GCC States were not keen to embark on any permanent enmity with it.
In fact, throughout the decade between Livni's two visits to Doha, GCC states repeatedly stressed diplomatic solutions to their numerous disputes. Most reflected an increasingly alert public opinion, which refused to be bamboozled into a neat us vs. them categorisation.
When Livni first spoke in Doha, she did not mention Israel's mighty nuclear capabilities, and the existential threat her country posed to its neighbours. It somehow never occurred to ask whether the strong threatened the weak. On the contrary, Israel managed to always portray itself as a fragile party, even if its military strength was superior to those of most nation-states save the United States of America.
Moreover, and incredulously, Livni never questioned Israel's own marginal support for Palestinian representatives in Fatah and the Palestinian National Authority, nor did she acknowledge, even tangentially, her country's systematic and decades-old occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There was nothing in her speech about the mundane punishments imposed on several million individuals that mimicked Nazi Germany's degrading behaviour. Rather, Livni launched a new proposal to adopt a code of "democratic standards" which aimed to isolate extremists from peace-loving masses.
While a few participants in the 2008 audience reminded the foreign minister that Israel was indeed an occupying power, Livni heard harsher rebukes in 2018, for little had changed on the ground throughout the decade. In fact, she was reminded that illegal mass arrests became far more sophisticated in Israel's apartheid system, which put her "democratic standards" to shame.
Invited Western officials present in Doha knew this to be entirely true but few denounced it, arguing for stale negotiations, and always blaming the downtrodden. In fact, Livni's greatest accomplishments included her skill to portray Israel as a victim, dismiss condemnations as unjust, and sustain her allegedly impeccable democratic standards. They illustrated chutzpah but explained lack of inclusion.
Dr Joseph A. Kechichian is a commentator and author of several books on Gulf affairs.
