Historic agreement between the Emirates and Israel for the pacification of the Middle East
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel have reached a "historic" agreement for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which seeks to promote the establishment of peace in the Middle East region.
In a joint statement by Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, and Donald Trump, President of the United States, following telephone contacts between the three leaders, the UAE and Israel have announced the understanding reached on the establishment of diplomatic ties. This movement is a real milestone because it opens a new path to improve the political and diplomatic situation in the Middle East and because the Emirates becomes the third Arab country, after Egypt and Jordan, to establish political relations with the Hebrew nation.
The sealed three-way declaration said that "this historic achievement is expected to help advance peace in the Middle East". The most striking point of the new agreement is that it envisages Israel's commitment to stop the incorporation of Palestinian territories from the West Bank. The Arab world has been criticising Israel's annexation of land considered to be Palestinian in the face of the settlement of Jewish settlers, and the new understanding between the UAE and Israel is a major step forward in this regard, thanks to the interruption of this strategy by Israel. It should be noted that the latest plan proposed by the Trump Administration to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians (the so-called Century Agreement) recognized Israel's legitimacy with regard to the intention to take over areas of the West Bank, something that was unanimously denounced by the Arab community; despite the fact that the proposal contemplated the idea of establishing a Palestinian State, although very limited in its operation and reduced to a capital on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. The Palestinians rejected this offer, despite the large injection of money promised by the United States to help launch the new Palestinian state entity.
"This historic diplomatic breakthrough will promote peace in the Middle East region ... The three countries face many common challenges and will benefit mutually from today's historic achievement," the joint statement said, as reported by the Emirate news agency WAM. It also noted that delegations from Israel and the United Arab Emirates will meet in the coming weeks to sign a series of bilateral agreements in the areas of investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, health, culture and the environment, as well as to oversee the establishment of reciprocal embassies.
The intention now is to achieve this political breakthrough with other Arab nations. Tel Aviv will suspend the annexation of part of the West Bank and will focus its efforts on expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world, according to the understanding reached. "The United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates are confident that further diplomatic progress can be made with other nations and will work together to achieve this goal," the official statement said. In addition, both Israel and the UAE have shown their willingness to accelerate cooperation between the two countries to develop a vaccine against COVID-19. "Working together, these efforts will help save Muslim, Jewish and Christian lives throughout the region," they jointly stated.
With this announcement, the Emirates has become the third Arab country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan. This new relationship between the Emirates and Israel will expand diplomatic, trade and security cooperation, the statement said. The three leaders of the Emirates, Israel and the United States, moreover, share a similar perspective on the threats and opportunities in the region. This agreement is an example of the "shared commitment" among the three countries to promote stability through diplomatic engagement, greater economic integration and closer security coordination.
The United Arab Emirates has been steadfast in its stance on the Palestinian issue, its support for the rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent State and its rejection of the policy of settlements and land occupation. That attitude had been reflected in the statements and positions of its representatives to all kinds of international organizations.
During the last period, Israeli plans to annex more than 130 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley, which stretches between Lake Tiberias and the Dead Sea, met with strong opposition from the United Arab Emirates, before the Gulf country, through an agreement on Thursday, managed to stop this strategy.
In a step forward for the Palestinian issue, after the goal achieved by the United Arab Emirates, in the figure of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, through which they managed to stop the Israeli annexation plan of the occupied Palestinian territories.
In addition to halting the Israeli plan to annex the West Bank territories, the latest major agreement includes that the United Arab Emirates and Israel will continue their efforts to reach a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian problem, and will allow all Muslims to visit and pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In this regard, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash has stated on Twitter that the UAE's "bold initiative" to normalize relations with Israel seeks to put the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis and the possibility of a Palestinian state back on track.
Gargash has said that this step seeks to "preserve the possibilities of a two-state solution", a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with the state of Israel. It is precisely this two-state formula that has been seen as the most practical and realistic way to reach a real agreement between Israelis and Palestinians at some point.
Furthermore, a communiqué issued by the Emirate's Foreign Ministry has detailed that in this way "the United Arab Emirates has secured Israel's commitment to stop the annexation of Palestinian territories in order to sustain efforts to achieve the two-state solution".
Abu Dhabi believes that establishing diplomatic relations with Israel will enable the Arab country to play "a direct and constructive role in improving the security and stability of the region. In addition, "this agreement creates opportunities for cooperation in various sectors, including economic, cultural, scientific and technological sectors to promote prosperity in the region" of the Middle East.
Anwar Gargash also told Sky News Arabia that the agreement would not have been possible without U.S. participation. "The United Arab Emirates has always viewed the U.S. role in the Middle East in a positive light," the UAE diplomat said. According to the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, the annexation of parts of the West Bank would have eliminated any hope of peace in the region. Gargash himself has warned that most countries would view the UAE-Israel agreement as a "bold step".
Meanwhile, Yousef al-Otaiba, UAE's ambassador to the United States, has issued a statement saying the agreement is "a victory for diplomacy and for the region. "It is a significant step forward in Arab-Israeli relations that reduces tensions and generates new energy for positive change," he added. The UAE Embassy in the United States maintains that the agreement serves to maintain the viability of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Donald Trump himself has concluded this agreement through the social network Twitter: "GREAT progress today! Historic peace agreement between our two BIG friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates". A move that could help him in his intention to be re-elected president of the United States in the upcoming November elections.
Benjamin Netanyahu has also tweeted that this is a "historic day. Israeli authorities have expressed their satisfaction with the agreement to normalise diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and hope that it will open the way for other Arab countries in the region. Netanyahu has also indicated that he will extend the terms of the agreement, which implies that Israel suspends the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory.
For his part, Defense Minister and coalition government partner Benny Gantz has called on other Arab nations to "promote diplomatic relations in additional peace agreements. "I applaud this important and significant agreement, first and foremost to President Donald Trump - a true friend of Israel - Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Zayed," Gantz said in a statement, adding that he believes the agreement will contribute to "regional stability and prosperity.
Also, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, has welcomed the agreement between the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Israel. "We welcome any initiative that will improve security and stability in the Middle East," Guterres said.
In this vein, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised an agreement as an important step towards peace. Johnson noted on Twitter that "the agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to freeze the annexation of Palestinian land is a welcome step on the road to a more peaceful Middle East.
From an international power like Germany, the media has also described the agreement between the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Israel as "a historic and diplomatic breakthrough that paves the way for the expansion of peace in the troubled Middle East. The well-known German magazine Der Spiegel has described the agreement as a "great achievement and a diplomatic breakthrough" and has highlighted the success of the agreement in deterring Israel from attempts to annex parts of the West Bank. The magazine added that the agreement is also an achievement for U.S. President Donald Trump, who is preparing for the November presidential elections, and explained that "this external success may pave the way for his re-election. The German magazine Stern stressed that the agreement was a "long-awaited historic step" and added that "this agreement opens the door to peace in the Middle East".
However, there is still a long way to go. In the last hours, Benjamin Netanyahu has assured that the annexation of part of the occupied West Bank "is on the table", although the agreement for the normalisation of diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates includes suspending it. "The application of sovereignty over Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank) is on the table," Netanyahu said in a television appearance, clarifying that it is a "temporary" decision but that "it is not annulled.
In the Palestinian world, too, there is reticence. For example, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), criticized the United Arab Emirates for the diplomatic agreement with Israel, saying that it "does not do the Palestinians any favors.
"The UAE has exposed its secret normalisation deals with Israel. Please don't do us a favour. We are nobody's fig leaf," Ashrawi posted on his Twitter account referring to the condition of the agreement by which Israel suspends the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory. This also refers to the more or less secret diplomatic contacts between the Emirates and Israel to deal with regional issues in view of the joint threat posed to both nations by a rival in the area such as the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has also rejected the agreement and has assured that it "does not serve the Palestinian cause at all". "This encourages us to continue denying the rights of our Palestinian people and to increase their aggressions against us," said Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson.