Former President Pervez Musharraf’s views published in a section of national English press about accepting Israel as a state in the larger interests of Pakistan needs to be examined dispassionately. He says that our non-acceptance of Israel has pushed it to forge a close relationship with India to our discomfort.Israel has been accepted by some Arab states like Egypt and Jordon while late leader of PLO Yassar Arafat called Israelis his cousins albeit step ones. Arabs have a family relationship with Israelis while we have none. As such it is a family dispute of historic proportions as Arabs and Israelis had same father Abraham and different mothers.
Some enmity existed among the step brothers among sons of Prophet Jacob where his son Joseph was thrown in a well by his step brothers who were later forgiven in the final reunion of the family of Prophet Jacob in Egypt where Joseph had become a Wazir of King of Egypt. Israelis are leaders in knowledge of science as illustrated by Einstein and the large number of Israelis as Noble prize winners in science while Muslims are mostly barren in this regard. Pakistan can gain much in accepting Israel as a state as per ground realities to reap the benefits of scientific cooperation and lesser bonding of Israel with India unnecessarily.
We should not be more loyal to Arabs than themselves. USA as sole superpower of the world has close nexus with Israel and by opposing Israel we draw the results of the close affinity of US/Israeli combined to the benefit of India, our mortal enemy. As such there is logic in the views of former President Musharraf when he advocates forging a relationship with the Israeli state. There ought to be a dispassionate debate over the issue in the national media about the pros and cons in the contemporary world in which live.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
