On 13th August, US President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement Via Twitter that two of America’s close allies in West Asia, which had been at odds with each other for decades, reached a “historic” peace agreement. According to the deal, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel have reached a deal to normalize relations, with Israel agreeing to suspend its controversial plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Until now Israel had no diplomatic relations with Gulf Arab countries. It is the third Israel-Arab Peace deal since Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, after Egypt and Jordan.
President Donald Trump has worked secretly to establish Israeli diplomatic relations with the UAE. In addition to Donald Trump, the other mediators of this agreement were the President’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, Special Mideast envoy Avi Berkowitz and the US ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
European and some Pro Western Arab Governments welcomed the deal as a boost for hope of peace. The European Union thinks that the normalization will benefit both Israel and the UAE. France welcomed the deal, stressing the suspension of Israel’s plans to annex swathes of the occupied West Bank. Yves Le Drian, the French Foreign Minister said, “The decision by the Israeli authority to suspend the annexation of Palestinian territories is a positive step indeed, which must become a definite measure.” Zaho Lijian, the Spokesman of China Foreign Ministry said, “China is happy to see the measures that are helping to ease tensions between the countries in the Middle East, promoting regional peace and stability. China hopes that the relevant parties will take concrete actions to bring the Palestinian issue back to the track of dialogue and negotiation on an equal footing at an early date.” The UN Secretary General hopes that it will create an opportunity for Israeli and Palestine leaders to re-engage in a meaningful negotiation that will realize a two state in line with relevant UN resolutions.
The Palestine Leaders rejected and denounced the UAE, Israel and US trilateral announcement. Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas called the agreement an “aggression” against the Palestine people. The Palestinian thinks that this deal is a betrayal of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian cause. The Palestine recalled its ambassador from the UAE. Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian President decried the deal as a “Huge Mistake”. He mentioned the UAE-Israel deal as a “Betrayal of the Palestinian cause.” He further said, “This is stabbing the Palestine’s in the back and will strengthen the regional unity against the Zionist regime.” Tayyip Erdogan the Turkey President said, “History and the conscience of the region’s people will not forget and will never forgive this hypocritical behavior of the UAE, betraying the Palestinian cause for the sake of its narrow interests.” Turkey government has suspended its diplomatic relation with the UAE administration. Ghana, a Muslim Country mentioned the UAE’s tie as “a betrayal” of the Palestine people. Ghana’s government released a statement mentioning that there can be no normalization of ties with Israel while the Palestinian people are still occupied, there can be no normalization ties while Israel still practices apartheid, colonialism and siege against the Palestinians.
The peace agreement between the UAE and Israel is not an isolated happening. If we go back just 6 years ago, we could see Israel opened their diplomatic office at Abu Dhabi in 2015. Since then; Israeli athletes have participated in different completions in the UAE. Moreover, this peace agreement gives a major diplomatic victory for President Trump a few months before the election. President Trump wanted a diplomatic victory, and his closet allies in West Asia, if more Arab countries open ties with Israel in the coming months, President Trump could claim a major diplomatic breakthrough in the Arab-Israel relations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubts about how much he can be benefitted from this agreement. Because the common people of Israel may not like Israel’s agreement with the Arab World. Israel’s could be outraged if Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to occupy the West Bank is not fulfilled. Netanyahu has assured his countrymen that he had only agreed to delay the annexations in the occupied West Bank and the plan still remains “on the table”.
Mohammed Bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of UAE said, “The benefits of normalization with Israel both depend and upon an indefinite suspension of annexation. The UAE government said, “We have taken the agreement as a sovereign state with our own interest and our own calculations in mind. We are in the process now informing our friends and partners and others in the region as to why we took the step.” The agreement between the UAE and Israel promises to establish normal relations between the two countries. These include business relation, trade, tourism, direct flights, scientific cooperation and full diplomatic ties at the ambassador level. The UAE Kingdom has already announced to shift its embassy in the Jerusalem.
Israel stands to benefit hugely from normalized relations with the Gulf state. Israel has framed the peace accord as a golden opportunity to improve diplomatic and trade relation with the Arab world. According to this agreement Israel will participate in the UAE’s delayed Expo 2020. Israel also has a small mission representing its interest at the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi. Israeli business leaders are enthusiastic about the prospects for business across a range of sectors. There are more than 300 companies operating in the UAE, most of them through subsidiaries. With normalization, there is the prospect of more medium sized companies, not only taking advantage of the Emirates counterpart but also through these joint ventures, entry into Golf Markets.
The agreement between the UAE and Israel has completely changed the calculation of world politics. Some Arab countries have come around to accept Israel’s existence, while some others are beginning to establish ties. Bahrain is most likely to follow the UAE. Like Bahrain, Oman is also going to develop relation with the Israeli government. Morocco and Sudan also seek to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
It is not the right time to calculate who has been gainer and who has been loser; or how much has been lost. International Analysts think that it will take few months to see how this deal affects the whole Muslim world. The effectiveness of the deal will largely depend on the outcome of the November’s US Presidential election. If Donald Trump wins, one kind of result will be obtained, but, if defeated, another kind of result will be gained. For good or bad whatever, the next few months are very much crucial for the whole world. But it is true that the outcome of the US and Israel’s National election will be largely influenced by this agreement.
(The writer is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh. Email: [email protected])
