Israel is dancing in the streets of occupied East Jerusalem once more. Footloose and fancy free as rubber bullets target Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque. This is what freedom looks like. At least for the those who know impunity is theirs for the taking. And the killing. Of course, everyone and their cat knew it wouldn’t last. Yet no one expected Tel Aviv give to up the ceasefire charade just like that. This carefully choreographed message was aimed not so much at the Palestinians as the Arab world. During the last two weeks, increased Israeli aggression was marked by a flurry of diplomacy coming from the OIC, spearheaded by Pakistan. Indeed, these efforts triggered an emergency sitting of the UN General Assembly and ultimately resulted in the Egyptian-brokered truce. As much as Israel is at fault as the aggressor nation and military occupying power – the big boys of the Arab world share due complicity. Paying lip service to the Palestinian question while pocketing American goodies. Never was this more blatant than under the Trump Town White House with its “deal of the century” for Middle East peace that took Jerusalem off the Palestinian table. In the same stroke, Saudi Arabia was wooed with a massive defence deal, to the cool tune of $450 billion over a 10-year period. Riyadh has said that it is cautiously open to normalising ties with Israel. This is something that the UAE formally did last year when Donald Trump was still in the hot seat. In return, it was promised arms worth a more modest $23 billion. That President Biden is pushing ahead with this, signals it is business as usual. Thus, when viewed through American eyes, the Arab world mis-stepped when it backed Imran Khan’s efforts to make the world sit up and take notice of Palestinian suffering. Yet even now, he remains hopeful that a two-state solution will become a viable reality. He will likely be disappointed. The only immediate upshot is that these endeavours have successfully de-linked Pakistan from Afghanistan in the global imagination. This is a message that should not go unnoticed in Washington. For Pakistan has more to offer in the way of regional peace and security. A good place to start would be ensuring that no momentum is lost, however loose the talk, on hauling Israel up before the ICC (International Criminal Court). The Prime Minister is the man who can, on this front at least. As for the OIC, it must decide whether it wants to be a dynamic counter to the West. Or if it is content to follow the path of a toothless world body that has lost its bite and is no longer worth the paper its Charter is written on. While it is deciding, Pakistan has endured a terror attack at a pro-Palestine rally. *