The Bible tells that that Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac came together to bury their father. Now, four thousand years later, we saw their heirs come together in brotherhood on the White House lawn.
The Abraham Accords were signed by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jewish prime minister of Israel, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Muslim foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and witnessed by Donald Trump, Christian president of the United States of America. As representatives of the three Abrahamic religions, they launched a new era of peace in the Middle East.
Text of The Abraham Accords Declaration
We, the undersigned, recognize the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace in the Middle East and around the world based on mutual understanding and coexistence, as well as respect for human dignity and freedom, including religious freedom.
We encourage efforts to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue to advance a culture of peace among the three Abrahamic religions and all humanity.
We believe the best way to address challenges is through cooperation and dialogue and that developing friendly relations among states advances the interests of lasting peace in the Middle East and around the world.
We seek tolerance and respect for every person in order to make this world a place where all can enjoy a life of dignity and hope, no matter their race, faith or ethnicity.
We support science, art, medicine, and commerce to inspire humankind, maximize human potential and bring nations closer together.
We seek to end radicalization and conflict to provide all children a better future.We pursue a vision of peace, security, and prosperity in the Middle East and around the world.
In this spirit, we warmly welcome and are encouraged by the progress already made in establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and its neighbors in the region under the principles of the Abraham Accords.
Cyberangels of Peace Fly from Israel to United Arab Emirates and Bahrain
To celebrate this momentous occasion, I launched my Rembrandt-inspired cyberangels of peace on a virtual flight from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem to the Louvre Abu Dhabi and to the Bahrain Museum of Contemporary Art.
While the peace accords were being signed in Washington, my daughter Iyrit phoned that the Arab terrorists ruling Gaza were launching rockets into Ashdod where she lives with her husband Dr. Yehiel Lasry, mayor of the city and former surgeon-general of Israel’s navy. She was suddenly shocked by rockets exploding in her neighborhood followed by ambulance sirens rushing the injured to the hospital. In a Kafkaesque scene, the momentous peace event continued live on the television screen in her living room.
Unfortunately, the constant Arab wars and terrorism aimed at destroying Israel and slaughtering its Jewish population living in its ancestral homeland does not suddenly come to an end with the stroke of a pen.
The paradigm shift created by the Abraham Accords is shaping a new reality of peace rather than hostility and warfare, friendship rather than enmity, appreciation of others religions and cultures rather than hate, and cooperation rather than antagonism. Extending this paradigm shift throughout the Middle East requires a different spirit, a creative spirit that will offer a bright future for all people.
Israel’s Declaration of Independence Extends its Hand in Peace
Israel’s Declaration of Independence expresses constant, unquenched thirst for peace:
We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
