Recent history has been cruel to the Kurds. Unlike the Persians, another non-Arab people in the Arabian east, whom have their own great nation with borders and a means of defense, the Kurds are settled throughout Turkey, the Levant and Iraq without a nation to call their own. In that the 22-million Kurds are the largest ethnic community without a nation.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Kurds need a nation, and in a more tolerant world they would not. For most of history there was no distinction between Kurd and Arab in the region. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) famously declared that in Islam a Muslim is the brother of another and famously named Arabs and Kurds as a people for whom there now should be no division. Islam erased the line of separation between both people that existed beforehand and ushered in centuries of peaceful and prosperous coexist. With the obvious exception of the Prophet (saw), the most beloved figure in Islamic history is the Kurdish warrior Saladin whom famously liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders. But this era ended with the arrival of Arab nationalism. An import from the West, a new generation of Arab intellectuals championed Arab heritage and culture as the unifying bloc in society. It did not need to project exclusivity and intolerance, and not all strains of Arab nationalism do, but is was always natural that at some level the region’s non-Arabs - the Kurds - would feel excluded from the slogans of pan-Arabism. All the while in Turkey, home to millions of Kurds, the all-encompassing nature of the Ottoman Empire was replaced by Ataturk and the Young Turks with an even more staunchly nationalist ideology that would go on to abuse Kurds in worse ways than the Arabs ever did. But suffer at the hands of Arabs they did.

The non-Arabs in Arab lands, Kurds become the butt of petty remarks (”Do you take me for a Kurd” is a common Arab expression to signify refusing to be treated like, say, a sucker) and, worse, every single Arab government in which Kurds have lived has abused them. Saddam Husseini infamously gassed the Kurds (and Turkey killed just as many Kurds as Saddam).

Given their distinct identity, language, culture and (partly) history, and their all-too-frequent abuse it is not surprising that the Kurds seek a sovereign nation of their own. Since 1991, and even more so since 2003, the Kurds have been able to carve out for all purposes an independent state in northern Iraq.

Thus far though Kurdistan still remains a province of Iraq, and neither Baghdad or Ankara, which worries that Kurdish-populated Turkish regions will seek to bolt too, are keen to see a truly independent state.

What final existence the Kurds establish in the region is not yet clear. But one thing is: Kurdish security and prosperity in the region is dependent on their relationship with Arabs. And this, after a background, bring me to my point. Since 2003, the Kurds have been moving away from a brotherly relationship with Arabs. Although this is understandable (and even justified) given the way Arabs have mistreated Kurds, it is nonetheless counterproductive to the Kurds.

First, Kurdish students are no longer mastering Arabic like they used to. This is vital. The Middle East is the Arab world. If they are to prosper alongside Arabs, then Kurds need to know Arabic:

Arabic is officially the second language of Kurdistan and the primary language of Iraq, a country in which Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. Though studying Arabic is currently compulsory in Kurdish schools, the number of Kurds who can speak it fluently is rapidly shrinking.

Kurdish speakers of Arabic tend to belong to the older generation, including the current political elite, that was schooled before the creation of their semi-autonomous region in 1991. Many below the age of 35 do not speak the language.

The Kurds’ growing neglect of Arabic corresponds with a longer standing neglect of the Kurdish language by Iraqi Arabs. . .

The language gap, arguably a symptom of Kurdish-Arab tensions, may also soon exacerbate them. Analysts say the next generation of Kurdish leaders could be compromised by their lack of fluent Arabic.

“It is politically dangerous for an official who cannot speak and argue in Arabic to be among Arabs,” said Asos Hardi, a commentator. “A Kurdish official who knows Arabic well is 10 times better [equipped] than another official in the same position who does not know the language.”

The Kurds need to learn Arabic, and Iraqi Arabs should also learn Kurdish for the benefit of a peaceful, tolerant and prosperous Iraq.

And, second and most importantly, the Kurds need to maintain an arms length relationship with Israel as long as Palestine remains occupied. At a time when Turkey is moving away from Israel and pro-Palestinian sentiment is the strongest level in years in both the Arab world and Turkey, and the broader Muslim world, it defies all notions of self-interest for the Kurds to reach out to Israel. There already have been a lot of reports in the past few years in the Arab press about Kurdish contacts with Israel since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This has harmed the image of Kurds (even more). It has also placed the Kurds in a vulnerable position. Their regional supporter America is leaving, and the reports on Israel has angered a lot of Arabs whom may seek to punish Kurds in someway. It is for that reason that Kurds may reasonable seek to find a new ally in the region. But this is misguided and it is backwards, though the Kurds may have felt the need for another alliance beforehand and Arab anger in Kurdish minds as a result of has increased the need for one; it now just increases tensions between Arabs and Kurds which can be fixed. If Kurds worry now, nothing could be better calculated to alienate Kurds than an alliance with Israel. And, second, Israel is no U.S. The U.S. can employ troops in Iraq, Israel can’t. Israel can at most sell weapons, and that’s it. The Angry Arab perfectly summed up the situation for Kurds:

I saw a recent survey of Iraqi Kurdish attitudes to Israel. A majority favor a relationship between Kurdistan and Israel. My opinion is this: I have always favored self-determination for Kurds and fulfillment of their national aspiration. I reckon that Kurds suffered discrimination and oppression by the US, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. But the future of the Kurds of Iraq is in Iraq and with the larger Arab world. The association between some Kurdish leaders and Israel will hurt the future of Arab-Kurdish brotherhood/sisterhood. In the long future, Israel will not be there and Kurds have to have peaceful relations with the Arabs. End of my preachment.

The Kurds need to reach out to Arabs and Arab likewise. And the past dealings with Israel will then be forgotten by both. If the Kurds seek to cynically shake hands with Israel then their newly-founded independence may very well be short-lived.