“When we entered into the Abraham Accords, in Trump 1.0, 2019-2020, it was a victory for the reformers within Islam. For those who say ‘we can live in peace with Judeo-Christian civilization. And you know how we're going to prove it? By living in peace with Israel.’
Israel-Syria deal could expand Abraham Accords, U.S. envoy tells 'Post'
Photo credit: REUTERS/KHALIL ASHAWI, SHUTTERSTOCK
In a Thursday interview with The Jerusalem Post, Ambassador to the US Dr. Yeichel Leiter stated that the joint mechanism between Israel, Syria, and the US holds "great potential" for expanding the Abraham Accords in the future.
“The potential is great. We certainly hope so. There's no reason that it shouldn't happen other than if we see that jihadi elements within the new Syrian army are empowered,” Leiter said, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
“There was a march just the other day in Damascus, where one of the soldiers was wearing the emblem of ISIS on his Syrian army uniform. Now, if that's an exception, a blowover, and not representative, then it'll go away. But if there's something deeper than that, then it's very concerning,” he said, adding that Israel was looking to give the new mechanism time to develop.
“We want to see this develop into something we can be confident in. If we leave southern Syria, we won't have jihadi forces come down, threaten the Jews, and threaten our border. That's really what we're most concerned about.”
Leiter explained that the joint mechanism signed would allow for further dialogue and intelligence sharing between Israel and Syria.
“The joint mechanism would mean talking constantly instead of meeting every three or four weeks for talks. So the mechanism would deal with de-confliction,” he said. “ If anything came up, troops are moving in a direction where somebody wants to call it out, or we see terrorist movement, or there's agitation among any of the minorities or whatnot, we can de-conflict, and at the same time, discuss modalities for deepening collaboration, whether it's economic or in the area of health care. I mean, anything we can explore for economic development would help the Syrians move forward.”
During his general remarks to Congregation Ahavath Shalom in Fort Worth, Texas, Leiter drew a line in the sand between reformists in Islam and radical jihadists.
“There is a tension, or a battle even, within Islam over whether or not to accommodate Judeo-Christian civilization. The reformation takes the form of accommodation, of moderation. Of moving out of a mode that says that a caliphate has to rule the world. That it's not both of us together, but it's one in place of the other,” Leiter said.
“If you're going to accommodate Judeo-Christian civilization, what's the first thing you're going to do? You're going to recognize Israel. Because it's this Judeo-Christian transplant in the heart of Islam. And if you're going to be a counter-reformation, what are you going to do? You're going to say recognition of Israel is the first step for the defeat of our civilization.”
Leiter went on to say that the current members of the Abraham Accords are reformers of Islam.
“So the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan made peace with Israel without conditions. They didn't say divide Jerusalem. They didn't say give up the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and the settlements. No. They made peace.
“Why? Because they're promoting an Islam that says side by side with Western civilization instead of defeating Western civilization.”
Leiter told the Post that a potential future security agreement, ahead of an expansion of the Abraham Accords between Israel and Syria, would primarily involve a defined, mutually respected border between the two countries.
“There would be ironclad protection for the Druze community in Sweida, it's about half a million Druze,” he added. “We have to ensure that they're protected. It would look like something along the lines of an agreement where Turkish troops, Russian troops, and jihadi troops would not be moving past a certain line towards the south.”
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