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Pakistan must get ready for a regional change in its Gulf allies where 2,600,000 Pakistanis are employed in Saudi Arabia; 1,500,000 in the U.A.E.; 231,685 in Oman; and 125,000 in Qatar. The change in the relationship of these states with Israel may alter the worldview of those living and ruling in the region, meaning that the Pakistanis working there and their relatives in Pakistan must also accept the change and allow a shift in their worldview. Sooner or later, the change will no doubt lead to an “adjustment” in the foreign policy of Pakistan whose passports ban travel to Israel. One can take it for granted, but the changing of the pro-Arab and anti-Israel worldview is going to be tough for Islamabad simply because its anti-Israel policy is also based on religion.
What has happened? The U.S.-backed Abraham Accords agreed between Israel, the U.A.E. and Qatar in 2020. It is a “normalization” agreement. Pakistan might be put off by it and look at the Gulf Arabs as “betrayers” while the world of Islam is united against Israel. But that ignores the beginning of the trend in 1994 when Jordan similarly “normalized” its relations with Israel and no one was bothered. The Abraham Accords are going to change the Middle East based on how far the “agreeing” parties go to change politics of the region through their mutual economic concessions. There is no doubt it will lead to economic expansion requiring changes in how the Islamic world looks at Israel. The full title of the accords is “Abraham Accords: Declaration of Peace, Cooperation, and Constructive Diplomatic and Friendly Relations”; will the Islamic world accept this? And how will Pakistan in general and the people of Pakistan in particular, owing allegiance to religious parties at home, react to it?
Will the Middle East and related areas accept the “new world” created by the Abraham Accords? Is the Islamic world in agreement over the change following the diplomatic acceptance of Israel by some Gulf states? Is the Islamic world united enough to welcome this change aimed at putting an end to a permanent religious conflict? The “non-militarized” Arabs states in the Gulf may not feel threatened by Israel; but what about the rest?
States like Iran ruled by clerics might reject the Accords and base its opposition to Israel on religion. And if the Gulf states—some of whom are threatened from their neighbors such as “Muslim” Yemen next to Saudi Arabia—accept the state of Israel, there is no doubt that the signatories would benefit economically and see their wealth expand under the protective umbrella of the United States. But will others sending their populations to work in the Gulf abide by it, especially when they know that if they oppose the Accords their workers will be replaced by people from other states like India where governments have no permanent “ideological” differences with Israel? Pakistan will be one of the most significant states to adjust to the big change that will come in the region as a result of the change in Arab-Israeli relations.