The significance of the Israeli foreign minister's first official trip to the UAE
Israel's newly-formed coalition government led by ultra-nationalist Naftali Bennet is slowly settling in. The self-appointed "Government of Change", which has managed to unseat the previous prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after 12 years in office, has experienced a first week full of obstacles that could have cracked an executive composed of an amalgam of parties with very different ideologies.
The March of the Flags by Jewish extremists was the first challenge facing Bennet's government, as clashes were expected between the demonstrators and the Israeli Arab population. Indeed, as a result of this march commemorating the occupation by Israeli settlers of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, Hamas sympathisers launched around 30 incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory near the border.
The Israeli government, which had promised a different approach in its relationship with the country's Arab minority, which represents 20% of the population, responded to the attacks by Hamas sympathisers with two area offensives targeting Resistance Movement facilities. With regard to Hamas and Gaza, it seems that the new government shares the same ideas and actions as the previous Netanyahu-led administration, which carried out "Operation Warden of the Walls" during the last confrontation with the Hamas group.
A confrontation that eventually lasted 11 days and resulted in the death of at least 257 Palestinians, including 66 children. On the Israeli side, 13 people, including two children, were killed by rockets fired from Gaza. One of the first decisions of the "Government of Change" has been to approve air strikes on Gaza in response to incendiary balloons being launched into Israeli territory from the enclave, breaking the ceasefire that came into effect on 21 May.
Against the backdrop of clashes between Israel's Arab population and Jews, as well as the recent escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel, Israel's new foreign minister, Yair Lapid, has announced that his first official trip abroad will be to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is particularly noteworthy that the new government's first official trip will be to an Arab country rather than the United States, for example, a staunch ally of the Hebrew country. This is not a random decision, but marks the new government's intention to consolidate the Abraham Accords, which involved the normalisation of relations between Israel and several Arab countries including the UAE, Sudan, Bahrain and finally Morocco.
The Abraham Accords that took place during the previous US and Israeli administrations, with Donald Trump as president and Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister respectively, broke the historic consensus among Arab countries that any official recognition of Israel had to be conditional on an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories and the establishment of the two-state solution on the 1967 borders. Despite the fact that the new governments in both the United States and the Hebrew country intend to take a completely different line to that of their predecessors in the framework of the normalisation of relations agreements, the same policy continues.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's trip to the United Arab Emirates confirms the tendency of Israel's new government to further strengthen relations with the Arab countries that signed the Abraham Accords. Lapid will meet his Emirati counterpart, Abdullah bin Zayed, during his visit to the Gulf kingdom on 29-30 June, where he will inaugurate an Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate in Dubai.
No Israeli cabinet minister has visited the UAE since the Abraham Accords were announced. Israel's former prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had to postpone several planned trips due to coronavirus closures. Likewise, the last of the trips was postponed as a result of the recent elections as the UAE did not want the relationship to become politicised. Moreover, Netanyahu did not allow other ministers to travel to the Gulf before him, and former Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen, now Minister of Science and Technology, had to cancel planned trips.
Since the normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE was signed, the two countries have reached multiple trade agreements. The two states have agreed on visa-free travel for their citizens. A number of bilateral agreements on investment, tourism, direct flights, security and telecommunications have also been signed. The UAE was the first Gulf Arab state to announce the normalisation of relations with the Jewish country.
Shortly after the agreement was reached, the Trump Administration authorised the sale of 50 F-35 fighter jets to the UAE, making it the second Middle Eastern country after Israel to acquire them. The Trump administration has always used an incentive to encourage Arab countries to establish relations with Israel. In the case of Morocco, Trump recognised Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for normalising relations with the Jewish state.
For his part, President Joe Biden, upon his arrival at the White House on 20 January, has maintained a more cautious stance on the incentives offered during the previous administration. As for Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, Biden has yet to make a statement. The Biden administration also put the deal to sell F-35 fighter jets to the UAE on hold, but in April the administration finally decided to go ahead with the $23 billion arms sale, saying it would work with the UAE to ensure compliance with human rights standards.
The announcement of new Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid's trip to the UAE makes it clear that Israel's new government will work to uphold the Abraham Accords amid growing tension between Hamas and Israel that has brought the Palestinian issue back to the centre of international debate.