The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant may have taken up armed positions in the Golan Heights that overlook Israel, but Israeli President Shimon Peres said ISIL could actually prove a good thing for peace relations with the Arabs.
“Until now, maybe Israel was the first problem in the eyes of many Arabs,” he said, the Huffington Post reported. “Today, they have to say it openly, the real problem for the Arabs and for us are not the mutual mistrust but really the problem of terror, which is a common danger to them and to us.”
Once that realization kicks in, Mr. Peres said, peace with former enemies could become a real possibility.
“We have to take the joint interests, which are many and didn’t exist before,” he said in the Huffington Post, saying that one proposal could be “to establish a functional headquarter of Arab countries and Israel to fight a common danger, because the terrorists are destroying the Arab world. They are the greatest danger to the Arab world, as well as to us a great danger. We have to fight them in order to stop it.”
ISIL, meanwhile, has issued a vow to storm Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and to “liberate Palestine” in the coming weeks, the Huffington Post reported. The terrorist group has also recently taken over roughly 95 percent of the territory of the Golan Heights on the Syrian side, The Blaze reported, citing information from the deputy commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ Golan Brigade.
The latest in the escalating ISIL violence is that Israel and the United States are reportedly keeping an eye on what occurs in Jordan, leaving open the possibility to enter the conflict if that nation comes under terrorist attack.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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