To peruse Charai’s new work is to realize that he has long been a percipient observer of the Middle East and foreign affairs.

    For the past several decades, Ahmed Charai, who is the publisher of the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune (where I am an editor at large), has been a forceful and eloquent advocate of peaceful relations in the Middle East. His vision is rooted not in fanciful chimeras but in the belief that Western values in general and the United States in particular can promote tolerance and understanding, whenever and wherever possible. At a moment when the Middle East is in a state of flux—the Assad regime has been toppled; Hezbollah and Hamas have been severely, if not fatally, wounded; and Iran has been weakened—there is a promising chance for a fresh start.

    Charai’s new book Shaping the Future: A Vision For Peace and Prosperity in the Middle East could thus hardly be more timely. It consists of his numerous writings in American and Israeli publications, including the National Interest and Israel Hayom, along with an introduction by Dov Zakheim, the former comptroller of the Pentagon and a well-known authority on foreign affairs. Zakheim notes that Charai is “not only a man of vision, but a man of action who has worked to realize that vision.” He has incurred obloquy and personal threats to his safety for his brave stands—his passionate advocacy of a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, his championing of the Abraham Accords, and his advocacy of American leadership—but he has never flinched.

    To peruse Charai’s new work is to realize that he has long been a percipient observer of the Middle East and foreign affairs. Writing in 2018, for example, he pointed to the achievements that Jared Kushner, who advised Donald J. Trump on the Middle East, was compiling in the region. Charai noted that many observers had discounted Kushner’s diplomatic skills, but that he demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of the region’s modalities. In particular, he perceived that Iran, Charai wrote, “now matters more to the Arabs than Palestine.” Kushner also recognized that a younger Arab generation did not necessarily share the same views and hatreds of its elders. According to Charai, “younger Arabs largely accept Israel’s existence as a settled fact, and generally see trading with its prosperous economy as essential to their own economic growth.” It thus came as no surprise to Charai that the United Arab Emirates announced peace with Israel in 2020. Charai noted that Kushner referred to the UAE-Israel pact as an “icebreaker.” In Charai’s lapidary summation, “He is right.”

    For Charai, the Abraham Accords, as they are known, had a personal component. In December 2020, the Kingdom of Morocco reached new terms with Israel in the form of a normalization agreement. The United States recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Charai, who was well aware that Israel and Morocco had enjoyed close, if sub rosa, intelligence and security ties, greeted the agreement with fervent enthusiasm. “I thank God,” he wrote, “for this new agreement as well as the people who made it so, from Moroccans, Israelis, Jews, and Muslims of years past to the young, creative thinkers who struck the final hammer blow.”

    Many of Charai’s proposals for the Middle East rest on the conviction that economic progress can lead to political freedoms and stable regimes. In this regard, he agrees with the aspirations of the renowned Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri who was brutally murdered by a car bomb on February 14, 2005, outside the St. George Hotel. Hariri’s mission had been to restore Lebanon’s prosperity and to promote tolerant values. His visionary stance prompted Hezbollah, working at the behest of the Syrian government, to assassinate him. The result was the Cedar Revolution, compelling Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. According to Charai, “figures like Baha Hariri, son of the assassinated Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, offer hope for political renewal. His deep connections in the West and vision for a united, prosperous Lebanon represent a chance to break free from the past.”

    With his keen interest in Lebanon’s future, Charai also observed that the Israel-Lebanon maritime pact in October 2020 was a distinct win for the West and a setback for Hezbollah. “Brokered by the U.S. government,” he wrote, “Lebanon and Israel’s new pact resolved a thorny knot of disputes relating to territorial waters that, for decades, had deterred investment into energy exploration. The deal settles maritime border disputes, but can also break the blockade imposed by Hezbollah on Lebanese firms hoping to trade with Israel.”

    Charai is hardly pollyannish about the Middle East. For him, Iran stands as the locus of global terrorism. It is aiding Russia in Ukraine with its sinister drones. It has been supporting Hezbollah and the Houthis. And it has been working on acquiring its own weapons of mass destruction. In an essay on the eve of the American elections, Charai suggested that the next president should target Iranian “leaders involved in terrorism and assassinations. Holding these individuals accountable in U.S. courts would send a powerful message to Iran that its actions will not go unpunished.”

    Anyone who knows Charai quickly recognizes that he is a salutary force for a new Middle East. His new book is a testament to his belief that creating it does not represent a mission impossible. Quite the contrary. The clarity of Charai’s thought and prose should go a long way toward helping to accomplish that urgent mission.