United Arab Emirates-Israel education agreement
The United Arab Emirates has signed a joint educational agreement with Israel. Specifically, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the two nations following the recent Abraham Peace Accords, signed between Israel and several Arab countries, which in addition to the educational field, aims to reach an agreement of peace, coexistence and understanding between the two nations. The Memorandum aims to serve Emirati and Israeli students in general, higher, technical and vocational education for cultural exchanges.
The agreement stipulates the exchange of information on equality in obtaining grades, the use of information technology, as well as educational solutions and plans to improve communication in schools so that students can solve problems on their own and, in any case, seek help. It has also been carried out with the aim of achieving inclusion of all types of people in schools, rejecting bullying and imposing equal conditions on all students, as well as supporting those who find it most difficult to learn and people with functional diversity.
To this end, a joint committee of experts from the two territories will be set up to facilitate, encourage and promote cooperation between the two countries in education. Its main objective will be to promote coordination between schools in both countries, to organise Erasmus-type visits and to establish administrative and educational links. Therefore, training courses, events, conferences and lectures and exchange programmes are planned, which will involve an immersion of the two regions in each other's territory.
The document was signed by Hussain bin Ibrahim al-Hammadi, the UAE Minister of Education, and Yifat Shaha-Biton, Israel's Minister of Education. The signing of the agreement was also attended by other senior officials from the administrations, including Mohamed Ibrahim al-Mualla, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Academic Affairs, and the UAE Ambassador to Israel, Mohammed al-Khaja.
A ceremony was held to formalise the Memorandum in which Al-Hammadi unveiled the UAE's centenary plans for the next 50 years and explained the Arab country's goals for improvement, such as becoming the best educational nation in the world by 2071. The formalisation took place in Israel, where Al-Hammadi had the opportunity to visit a number of educational establishments to meet Israeli schools and discuss various educational issues.
"We are delighted to have the opportunity to work together, education is the future. Around the world and in the Middle East, we have great challenges ahead of us and education is the only way to manage them. Only through education, tolerance and peace can we live together. I am sure that we are just beginning to develop a good relationship," Al-Hamadi said during his visit to Haifa University.
Israel's relationship with almost all Arab countries had never been good until, thanks to the United States, with the presence and help of the country's former president Donald Trump, the Abraham Accords were signed at the White House in Washington DC. These are aimed at establishing diplomatic and consular relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain primarily, although more countries have since joined the initiative. This Arab-Israeli rapprochement aims to bring a solution to the occupation of the Palestinian people and to create stability based on peace in the region. This Memorandum for rapprochement through education is one of the first that are beginning to emerge, glimpsing the good relationship that most Middle Eastern countries are coming to have with the Israeli people after years of dispute.
