Cover Story 
 

Cover Story

Never!

Most people in Pakistan know very well there will be a severe backlash if the
country were to take the same course as the UAE and other Muslim countries.

By Nazarul Islam | February 2021

Israelprotes

It is difficult to imagine a bilateral relationship between Israel, a Jewish state, and Pakistan, the world’s second largest Muslim nation. Several efforts have been made to initiate and promote a political relationship between the two nations. Considering the geopolitical dynamics, whenever there is talk of Israel and Pakistan coming together, there are overwhelming outside pressures.

Although Israel is a Jewish state, the country and its people are backed by Christians. Therefore, Muslims have reasons to believe that whenever Christians want to help Jews, it is related to some animosity towards Muslims.

The Pakistan Prime Minister says he is under severe pressure to recognize Israel but he will not do so in light of Pakistan’s support of the Palestinian struggle and its own efforts to liberate Kashmir. For strategic reasons, Pakistan has long had covert relations with Israel, as did the UAE and other Gulf states. General Zia ul Haq, reportedly, opened a back channel between Israel’s Mossad and Pakistan’s ISI and the two agencies worked with the U.S. against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

In 2005, during Musharraf’s time, both Pakistani and Turkish military leaderships had brokered the first-ever official contact between Israel and Pakistan. This was a meeting between Pakistani and Israeli foreign ministers in Istanbul.

There has also been talk of channels of communication being opened between Pakistan and Israel during the tenures of Prime Ministers Suharwardy and Benazir Bhutto.

What stands in the way of normalization is Islamabad’s long history of drawing a parallel with Kashmir. Normalizing ties with Israel before resolving the Palestinian issue would certainly rob Pakistan of its justification to claim Kashmir. Imran Khan has called deals between the Gulf states and Israel as ‘pointless’. The feeling in Pakistan is that the Gulf countries have abandoned their traditional support for pan-Islamic causes, like Kashmir and Palestine.

At the United Nations General Assembly, Imran Khan had warned of a “blood bath in Kashmir” once India lifted its lockdown. In August, the Pakistan government introduced a new map redefining Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir as ‘Indian illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’. As such, any reaching out towards Israel would be seen as hypocritical.

Normalizing ties with Israel before resolving the Palestinian issue would certainly rob Pakistan of its justification to claim Kashmir.

The political costs of normalization are quite high for Islamabad. Imran Khan would face the opprobrium of a considerable portion of the public, including his own supporters – thereby rendering a major blow to his reputation. There could be violent protests and other reactions from Islamist hardliners that would have the potential to metastasize into major security threats.

While the army is signaling that it is open to normalization, the groundwork has not yet been done. The army could face reputational risks, as the Islamist actors used as assets in certain conflicts, would be outraged over a move to normalize ties with Israel. The public reaction to any deal with Israel would severely undermine Imran Khan’s position and give ammunition to the mullahs – something the establishment is eager to avoid, given the power and influence that hardline Islamists continue to wield in Pakistan.

A third obstacle is Pakistan’s relationship with Iran, which appears to be intensifying despite earnest efforts by the Gulf Arab states to peel Pakistan away. Pakistan is still keen on maintaining relations with the Saudi kingdom, but feels that its traditional allies – including the United States – are tilting toward India. Any recognition of Israel would mean Pakistan has chosen the Gulf Arab states over Iran.

But this has not stopped Pakistan from venting its anger with Riyadh. Islamabad demanded in August that the Kingdom must ‘show leadership’ on Kashmir and wanted it to call a special meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister, even stated that if Riyadh did not call a special session, Pakistan would have to go to other Muslim countries such as Malaysia, Iran and Turkey.

Turkey already wields enormous soft power in Pakistan. Istanbul was one of the most vociferous defenders of Pakistan at the recent Financial Action Task Force meeting.

If Pakistan continues to grow closer to both Iran and Turkey and maintains its support for Turkey’s bid to supplant Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Islamic bloc, it would further harden its stance against normalization with Israel.

The door to improved Israel-Pakistan relations remains slightly ajar. Washington could encourage intelligence and military cooperation between the two, while nudging Pakistan to take other gradual steps toward normalization.

One possibility is for Pakistan and Israel to strike a small trade deal or enter into a modest investment partnership that addresses both countries’ key needs and markets. That could be Israel selling water technology to help Pakistan’s agriculture sector, or Pakistan beginning to export textiles to Israel.

Israel has helped India greatly in the wars of 1965, 1971 and 1999, against Pakistan. Pakistan is one of those Muslim countries that are totally against the ideology of Israel on the basis of its own Islamic ideology. This is harmful to Pakistan and in favour of Indian enmity towards it. But if the idea of talking to Israel and recognizing it is floated on any forum in Pakistan, the consequences can be devastating in the country and may not be
controllable.

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