Latest news with #MordechaiKedar
Spectator
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Could Hebron join the Abraham Accords?
You've heard of the two-state solution (or delusion, as I call it). But have you heard of the eight-state solution? Or the Palestinian Emirates plan? This is the idea of Professor Mordechai Kedar, who I spoke to in February 2024, just four months into the war started by the Palestinians on 7 October, 2023. If his vision once seemed outlandish or unrealistic to many, it now seems considerably less so in light of the fascinating developments emerging from Hebron. A Wall Street Journal report explains that a coalition of Hebron's most powerful clan leaders, led by Sheikh Wadee' al-Jaabari, has issued a public declaration of intent to break away from the Palestinian Authority (PA), establish an autonomous Emirate of Hebron, and seek membership of the Abraham Accords. In doing so, they recognised Israel as the Jewish nation-state (something the PA has never done) and rejected decades of Palestinian rejectionism. Their letter, addressed to Israeli economy minister Nir Barkat, marks an unprecedented rupture with the Palestinian national project as defined by the PLO, and is therefore a welcome shift towards a realistic vision of potential coexistence. And at the heart of this development is Professor Kedar himself. As the Wall Street Journal reported, it was Kedar who introduced Sheikh Jaabari to Barkat and who has, for years, quietly cultivated ties with traditional clan leaders across the West Bank. His blueprint, long dismissed by western diplomats, may now be finding traction precisely because the alternatives have collapsed in blood and failure. Kedar is an expert in Arab culture and a fluent Arabic speaker; a controversial and outspoken academic, he became internet famous in 2008 for schooling an Al Jazeera anchor on the Qu'ran in fluent Arabic. The core of Kedar's argument is sociological. In our 2024 conversation, he laid it out with characteristic clarity: the Arab world is divided into two categories of states. The failing states – Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen – are all patchworks of sectarian, tribal and ethnic groups forced into artificial unity by post-colonial fiat. The successful ones – the Gulf monarchies, particularly the United Arab Emirates – are coherent clan-based structures where legitimacy flows from traditional authority, not abstract ideology. Kedar argues that Palestinian society fits the former mould: deeply clannish, inherently fragmented, and resistant to imposed national identities. The PLO and later the Palestinian Authority attempted to overwrite these loyalties with a centralised nationalist bureaucracy. The result? Corruption, repression, and dysfunction. As Kedar put it, 'the PA is illegitimate… just like Assad in Syria or Gaddafi in Libya.' In contrast, the eight-state or 'emirates' solution proposes a federation of autonomous city-states, each run by its dominant local clan (Hebron, Jericho, Nablus, Ramallah and so on) with rural areas remaining under Israeli sovereignty and offering Israeli citizenship to those who desire it. The model is explicitly drawn from the UAE, where seven emirates function under a federal structure, each rooted in a strong tribal base. Kedar is unapologetic about the cultural foundations of his model. Democracy, he argues, is not merely an institutional framework but a cultural ecosystem, one that is fundamentally alien to much of the Arab world. 'What we treat as sacred cornerstones of democracy,' he told me, 'are totally unacceptable in Islamic societies.' October 7th did not just end the credibility of the Palestinian Authority; it ended the credibility of the two-state paradigm itself. The horror of that day, the slaughter of 1,200 Israelis by Palestinian terrorists, was not an aberration but the culmination of decades of indoctrination, incitement and international indulgence. To continue proposing a sovereign Palestinian state governed by the same ideological and institutional forces that birthed that massacre is not diplomacy, it is moral and strategic derangement. None of this is guaranteed to deliver peace. The sheikhs of Hebron may not succeed. Their vision may be undercut by Israeli inertia, international opposition, or internal division. But their initiative represents something that has been absent from this conflict for too long: strategic imagination rooted in social reality. If Palestinians are to have a future beyond war, indoctrination and kleptocracy, the starting point is to abandon the delusions of the past and begin building with the materials at hand: a commitment to non-violence, recognition of Israel as Jewish state, local leadership, economic pragmatism and a willingness to coexist. The Hebron initiative is not merely a proposal, it is a mirror held up to decades of failed policy. And for those willing to look, it might just be the beginning of a new path.
Euronews
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
In Iran, even President Masoud Pezeshkian is being culturally oppressed
By Mordechai Kedar, Middle East scholar Azerbaijanis in Iran, like many other non-Persian ethnic minority groups living under the Islamic Republic, face repression and are denied the right to speak in their mother tongue at official gatherings, even if they are the president of Iran. Don't they deserve better, Mordechai Kedar writes. ADVERTISEMENT A traditional cultural week was recently celebrated in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz. The event aimed to showcase the rich and diverse culture of the city, featuring traditional music and dance performances, art exhibitions, theatre, screenings of films about Tabrizian culture, lectures, and workshops. In addition to celebrating Tabriz's culture, the week also strengthened the bonds between the generations and promoted tourism to the city. For centuries, Tabriz was the capital city of the Azerbaijani people. Today, it is the cultural capital of the region of South Azerbaijan, with a predominantly Azerbaijani Turkic-speaking population. Although the territory is technically under Iranian sovereignty and Persian is widely understood, the culture remains Azerbaijani Turkic, and most of the population in fact speaks Azerbaijani, a Turkic dialect, as their mother tongue. The cultural week is an excellent opportunity to learn about the local culture, which harmoniously blends Azerbaijani and Persian traditions, offering a memorable experience. The week concluded with a ceremony attended by Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian. While official ceremonies such as these usually don't spark any significant political events, this time, a dramatic moment occurred during the president's speech. Pezeshkian decided to honour a famous poet from Tabriz, Mohammad Hossein Behjat Tabrizi, known as Shahriyar, by reading a few lines from his poem 'Heydar Baba Salam.' The poem was written in Azerbaijani, not Persian, since many people in northwestern Iran and Tabriz specifically are Azerbaijani — or Azeris, as they are called in Iran — and don't speak Persian. This division between Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan and those in Iran serves as a reminder that Iran came out of the Persian Empire, which conquered various peoples, many of whom still live under Persian rule, such as the Azerbaijanis, Baluchis, Kurds and Arabs. Azerbaijanis are considered an integral part of Iranian society and were historically regarded as one of the highest classes. Even Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is half Azerbaijani. The difference between Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan and those in Iran is that the former were conquered by the Russian Empire, while the Persian Empire conquered the latter. Iran honours locals and their culture It makes sense that the Iranian president would honour the locals and their culture, especially at an event that aims to celebrate Tabriz's diverse culture. After all, if we were to celebrate Persian culture in Iraq, it would be natural to read poems in Persian rather than Arabic, which is likely what the Iranian president was thinking. However, before taking the stage, the event organisers advised Pezeshkian not to read poetry in Azerbaijani. ADVERTISEMENT Pezeshkian shared this with the audience and stated that he would read two lines from Shahriyar's poem. He began with these lines: 'Heydar Baba, igit emek itirmez/Omur gecer efsus bere bitirmez/Namerd olan omru basa yetirmez/Biz de vallah unutmarık sizleri/Gorenmesek helal edin bizleri.' Since I believe that the readers of this passage, like some of the attendees at the ceremony, may not speak Azerbaijani, I will do what Pezeshkian did not do and provide the translation: 'Heyder Baba, a brave man does not tire/Life passes, but the legend does not end/A coward does not live to see the end of life/We swear we will not forget you/If we do not see you, forgive us.' Those are beautiful words that warm the heart. ADVERTISEMENT Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian just outside Tehran, July 2024 AP Photo/Vahid Salemi Pezeshkian was stopped by one of the officials organising the ceremony, and it appears that he was warned not to continue reading in Azerbaijani. In response, Pezeshkian laughingly made light of the interruption in front of the Turkic-Azerbaijani-Persian audience and said, 'No problem. No problem reading two Turkic poems,' with a smile. His lighthearted response made the audience laugh and cheer in applause. You might be wondering where his love for Turkic poetry came from. Like Khamenei, Pezeshkian is also half Azerbaijani on his father's side. Although not from Tabriz, Pezeshkian was born not far from there, in Mahabad, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province in Iran. ADVERTISEMENT Pezeshkian represented the Tabriz region in Iran's parliament for several years. Thus. his ability to read Azerbaijani and his love for Azerbaijani Turkic poetry. Reminiscent of the past This event is reminiscent of a visit by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also visited Tabriz and read Azerbaijani Turkic poetry. During that event, the audience joined Ahmadinejad in singing Turkic poems. It turns out that an event honouring Azerbaijani culture in Iran could have gone unnoticed if they hadn't stopped the president in the middle of reading a poem and paying tribute to an important poet. Was Pezeshkian stopped because he is Azerbaijani? It's hard to say for sure, but what is surprising is that the Iranian president was not allowed to finish reading the Turkic poem. ADVERTISEMENT Many Azerbaijanis live in Iran; 40% of Iran is Azerbaijani, and they are considered one of the largest minorities in the country. Azerbaijani Turkic is spoken by millions and holds cultural significance for them, despite not being considered an official language in Iran. Seemingly, it was important for Pezeshkian to continue reading in his father's language because Turkic speakers in the audience would have enjoyed the poem. But mainly because this was part of a ceremony celebrating the culture of Tabriz, a Persian-Azerbaijani city that embraces both cultures and languages. Azerbaijanis in Iran, like many other non-Persian ethnic minority groups living under the Islamic Republic, face repression and are denied the right to speak in their mother tongue at official gatherings, even if they are the president of Iran. ADVERTISEMENT Don't they deserve better? Mordechai Kedar is a Middle East scholar and commentator on the region.
