‘Historic’ moment as UAE and Israeli foreign ministers meet in Berlin: "An era of peace between peoples"
The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and the Israeli foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin during their "historic" first meeting, a major step forward for the new relations between the two nations that has begun following the agreement reached to this end under the mediation of Donald Trump's US government. An understanding that seeks to achieve peace in the Middle East region and the resolution of the frozen conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Gabi Ashkenazi chose this monument in the German capital to commemorate the Jewish genocide by the Nazis and left a clear message: "Never again". In reference to the fact that the terrible holocaust must never happen again.
The two ministers, wearing masks, initially greeted each other with an elbow in the presence of their German counterpart, Heiko Maas. Respecting the safety measures imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis.
The ministers toured the site, which consists of some 2,700 concrete blocks of all sizes symbolising the annihilation of six million Jews by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. They exchanged a few words and then wrote texts in the Memorial's Book of Remembrance. The clear message of this meeting was to establish "an era of peace between peoples".
The Emirati minister wrote a clear and lapidary phrase in English: "Never again", as could be seen in a photo published on the social network Twitter by the Israeli diplomat.
“Our presence here together symbolizes the beginning of a new era. An era of peace between peoples”, wrote Ashkenazi in Hebrew. "Our joint signature in the Book of Remembrance is like a common cry and oath: to remember and not to forget, to be strong and to promise never again," he also wrote.
The three ministers subsequently issued a joint statement. Meanwhile, Heiko Maas said it was a “great honor that the Israeli and Emirati foreign ministers have chosen Berlin as the location for their historic first meeting”.
The German representative described the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as “the first good news from the Mideast in a long time, and at the same time an opportunity for new movement in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.”. “We must seize this opportunity", he said, expressing the will to help the European Union.
The parties present pointed to a sense of reconciliation and mutual tolerance as the driving force behind the agreement, a message the Emirati minister left during his visit to the monument. As reported by the Emirates' official news agency, WAM, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed praised the construction of the memorial in Germany, stressing that this historic monument confirms the importance of strengthening the values of tolerance, coexistence and acceptance throughout the world without discrimination.
On September 15 Israel signed the so-called Abraham Accords at the White House for the normalisation of its relations with the Emirates and Bahrain. This opens up a promising path towards the pacification of the Middle East.
An alliance that seeks to bring more Arab countries on board in order to ease regional tension between Israelis and their neighbours and was opened up with the UAE and Bahrain, together with the United States. All these countries share a common enemy at present, which is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Precisely, the regime of the ayatollahs is currently viewed as the major destabilising threat owing to its belligerent and interventionist stance in the internal affairs of other neighbouring states.