More than 300 Iraqis including tribal chiefs pleaded Friday evening for normalization between Iraq and Israel, the first such appeal launched at a conference in autonomous Kurdistan sponsored by an American organization.
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The colloquium was organized by the New York think-tank Center for Peace Communications (CPC), engaged on the issue of normalization between Israel and the Arab countries and the rapprochement of civil societies.
Kurdistan (north), an autonomous region of central power in Baghdad, maintains cordial relations with the Hebrew state. By contrast in Baghdad, pro-Iran Iraqi political officials and factions are opposed to Israel while Iran, Israel's nemesis, enjoys strong influence among neighboring Iraq.
The approximately 300 participants, Sunnis and Shiites, gathered in Erbil, capital of Kurdistan, came "
from six governorates - Bagdad, Mosul, Salaheddine, Al-Anbar, Diyala and Babylon
", the founder of the CPC told AFP, Joseph Braude, American expert of Iraqi Jewish origin. "
There are also tribal chiefs from these governorates, intellectuals, writers,
" said Braude, contacted by phone by AFP. “
We ask for our integration into the Abrahamic accords. Just as these agreements provide for diplomatic relations between the signatories and Israel, we too want normal relations with Israel,
”according to the closing press release, read by a speaker, Sahar al-Taï, research director at the Ministry of Culture in Baghdad.
"
Let's go normalize with Israel
"
Under the aegis of Washington, the “
Abrahamic Accords
” were signed in September 2020 to normalize relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Morocco and Sudan followed.
"
No force, local or foreign, has the right to prevent us from making such a call,
" Sahar al-Tai said.
Among the Iraqi speakers, a former general and one of the leaders of the "
Sahwa
", tribal militias who had fought the jihadists helped by Washington. Israeli Chemi Peres, president of a foundation founded by his father, the late President Shimon Peres, spoke at the conference via video. “
Enough animosity. We must open a new page of cooperation and peace,
”Sheikh Rissan al-Halboussi, who came from Al-Anbar, told AFP. "
You are not going to be able to say to the citizen overnight '' Let's go to normalize with Israel '' but with time the ideas change
."
In recent decades, several leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan have visited Israel and Kurdish politicians have openly called for normalization with this country.
In 2017, when the Iraqi Kurds held their controversial independence referendum, one of their few supporters was Israel.
