The American Peace Initiative: Lessons Learned from the Abraham Accords

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American Greatness

The United States has its own Middle East peace initiative. While the Israeli-Palestinian 1993 Oslo Accords and the regional 2002 Arab Peace Initiative were cultivated outside the United States, the 2020 Peace to Prosperity plan and the Abraham Accords were born in the USA.1

 

The Abraham Accords, centered on regional peace and prosperity, were the 2020 agreements that brought the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and Kosovo into normalized relations with Israel. They were an aggressive pursuit of American strategic and security interests that capitalized on emerging dynamics in the Middle East. The intent of the Accords was to strengthen stability and deter Iranian, Chinese, and Russian attempts to extend influence or hegemony in the region. Expanding the Accords further secures a part of the world long synonymous with conflict.

The following lessons learned are based on interviews of those who paved the way for the Abraham Accords. We call upon leaders and lawmakers to support us in creating a digital archive to document guiding principles and lessons learned in the process. We believe this model can be replicated for other Muslim-majority countries through courageous, practical diplomacy.

There were certain dynamics that highlighted the benefits of the Abraham Accords process. For example, Israel, as a trade partner, has so many quality of life benefits to offer, including sectors such as water, technology, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, health sciences, and defense. In short, it would be regressive not to normalize with Israel.

1) It Starts with the People: Historically, an important foundation for the Abraham Accords agreements was laid with the Israel plank of the 2016 GOP Platform, a collection of policy positions embraced by tens of millions of grassroots Americans. Donald Trump captured 81% of self-identified Evangelical Christian voters in the 2016 election, and their faith-based voting regarding Israel was paramount. The plank, known as “Our Unequivocal Support for Israel,” authored by former South Carolina Representative Alan Clemmons, was a departure from all previous GOP platforms. Rather than endorsing a U.S. policy that would impose the formation of a Palestinian state as an inevitability, this plank gave Israel and its neighbors leeway to negotiate a peace agreement that would be mutually beneficial.

 

The policy foundation for the 2019 Pompeo Doctrine, which holds that Israel has a superior legal title to its current territories as a matter of law and historical fact, was built upon the foundation laid by Clemmons within American legislatures and other public policy spaces. Clemmons’ position held that it is incumbent upon the U.S. to legally recognize Israeli sovereignty in its current territories. This principle affirmed that any suspension of sovereignty over portions of the land of Israel would be for political, not legal, reasons. This was captured by his phrase on the platform, “We reject the false notion that Israel is an occupier.“ Clemmons believes that this term “occupier” is used to delegitimize Israel altogether and embolden violence by Israel’s enemies.

The work of Alan Clemmons gave Israel diplomatic leverage and negotiating space to make peace with the Abraham Accords countries with U.S. support in hand. The irony of his work is that Israel’s legitimacy in any portion of the land of Israel was actually a driver for peace, not an obstacle.

The 2016 plank also envisioned what would become the Abraham Accords: