By Abdisalam Ali Farah (Biligsey)

In my monologue, I, sometimes, think whether the time has come for Somalia to have political and diplomatic relationship both with the Israelis and the Palestinians taking stock from the much-publicized, Western-backed Two-State Solution formula. Within that political formula, it is envisaged the two states would live side-by-side in a secure environment.

Indeed, around the globe, many countries have pursued that line of thought and have established diplomatic relations with both political entities. Some of these countries are Arabs Muslims. Egypt and Jordan are two good examples. Furthermore, as recently as, last year a score of other Arab countries have followed the Egypto-Jordanian lead. These sovereign countries include Morocco, The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. Other Arab countries are known to have undeclared but visible relationships of a sort, i.e. Saudi Arabia and State of Qatar. These countries, although, they all belong to the Arab League, they have done so out of their own self-interest. As a matter of fact, therefore, I see no reason why Somalia shouldn’t follow suit and extend diplomatic and political recognition to the State of Israel.

We all have to keep in mind, that there will be a political shake-up in the Middle East if it hasn’t happened already. New alliances will emerge based on mutual interest. At least, in one instance, a rumor had been circulated in the news media that the young Saudi Leader, the Heir-apparent of the Saudi throne, Mohammad Bin Salman, known as MBS, paid a clandestine visit to Israel to discuss with the authorities there “matters of mutual concern”.

The State of Israel is very small country in terms of physical geography with, relatively, small population. Estimates tell that they are around six-million people. And, yet that country has a considerable political impact in world affairs.  Much of that political weight comes from the Jewish Diaspora in the West. Their political influence is visible in those countries, simply because they are united and over-represented both in the economic sector and in the media.

If we take America as an example, there are about 6 million Jews. In general, they have a sizeable political clout and respect within the American society. If, at all, anyone doubts that assertion let him or her listen to the speeches of the politicians inside the halls of American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the election times.

The influence the Israelis have in the American political establishment was clearly shown when former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, paid a visit, in March 2015, to both Houses of Congress to deliver a speech. The speech was a lengthy one touching different policy prospects, particularly Netanyahu’s goal was to convince  the US Congress to reject the Obama administration’s  led Iranian nuclear negotiations, During that speech, he received quite a number of standing ovations from the members of the Congress.   

Somalia, in the military regime years, had followed a largely strident anti-Western foreign policy. A case in point was the long-standing Arab-Israeli Mid-East Conflict and other political flashpoints around the world. The most eye-catching issue, to my understanding, was when Somalia tabled a controversial Resolution 3379 (although the Resolution was later rescinded) at the United Nations General Assembly in November 10, 1975. The Resolution “determined that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination”. It had had an overwhelming support by the Arabs, the Africans and the Soviet Bloc, as well.

The interesting part of the resolution, though, was why Somalia was chosen to table the motion! At the meeting there were more powerful countries than Somalia. This, clearly, had angered the United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (1973-1977), himself a Jew! Obviously, this move was a political miscalculation of grand scale: a small country like Somalia meddling in a costly political game!   

Cognizant of Somalia’s present self-inflicted political, social and economic difficulties, an anti-Israeli policy makes no sense any longer. How and when the normalization of the diplomatic relationship takes place is a matter for the Somali Government to look after. But what is important here and I would like to emphasize is to lessen, as much as we can, the enmities and the hostilities that may come from the more powerful countries vis-à-vis Somalia. 

Abdisalam Ali Farah (Biligsey)
Email: biligsey2005@gmail.com