Abraham Accord: Why Israel and the UAE have reached a deal
As the US footprint retreats from West Asia and new players like China enter the fray, Israel and the Gulf monarchies have the perfect opportunity to carve out a regional security architecture
By Aditi Bhaduri
Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached a historic peace deal on August 13 that will lead to a full normalisation of diplomatic relations between the two nations, brokered by the United States. Palestinians have criticised the move.
Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to suspend annexing parts of the West Bank it had been discussing.
The agreement, known as the Abraham Accord, makes the UAE the first Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) state to establish ties with Israel. Thus, like Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, the UAE has chosen to break ranks with the Arab bloc. The unified Arab position till now has been the recognition and establishment of full diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for its adoption of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which calls for “…a full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967.”
While Israel has always been seeking normalisation with Arab and Muslim states what compelled the UAE to do so?
The answer lies in this paragraph of the joint statement. “Along with the US, Israel and the UAE share a similar outlook regarding the threats and opportunities in the region, as well as a shared commitment to promoting stability …….and closer security coordination.”
The UAE has for the past decade been following an increasingly determined and individualised foreign policy and this deal does not come as a big surprise. Arab states, especially Gulf monarchies, have been increasingly engaging with Israel for a while now because of these ‘threats’.
Last year, Bahrain hosted an economic peace plan for the Palestinians floated by Jared Kushner, adviser and son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Israeli delegates and journalists participated in the forum. In 2018, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even paid an official visit to Oman. There have been numerous such official and unofficial interactions between both sides, including security cooperation.
Analysts in the UAE say that the greatest priority for the Emirates is to preserve the ‘nation-state’ and the current political structure of the UAE. The greatest threat remains political Islam — both the Shia variety espoused by Teheran with its arc of influence extending to Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, as well as the Sunni variety espoused by the Muslim Brotherhood, groups patronised by Turkey and Qatar. The Islamic State, whose ideology is rooted in political Islam, also remains a potent threat.
It was to counter these threats, and already spooked by the Arab Spring, that the UAE and Saudi Arabia entered the war in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi militias. It was again to counter a similar threat that in 2017 the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt snapped ties with fellow GCC member Qatar. Following this, the UAE, along with Egypt and Russia, has been backing the forces of Libyan General Khalifa Haftar in Eastern Libya against the Turkish-backed Libyan government in Tripoli. To hedge against all this, the UAE has been actively pursuing a policy of diversifying its strategic partnerships.
For Israel too, the greatest threat in the region is Iran and its proxies — the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups in Gaza. It is also uneasy with the recent Iran-China deal. Thus, both countries find common cause in expanding ties.
Hard power, Netanyahu underscored in his address at the 2018 Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, had been a major factor for Israel’s success both as a State and in diplomacy. It is this ‘hard power’ that makes ties with Israel attractive for the small but rich Gulf monarchies. Following Netanyahu’s Oman visit, Saudi columnist Abdulrahman al-Rashed wrote, “Israel has played an important role in hitting Iran’s growing influence in Syria. It took up roles that rejecting Arab countries couldn’t achieve. With this, military balance in the region was achieved and Israel became integral to regional security….”
As the US footprint retreats from the region and new players like China enter the fray, Israel and the Gulf monarchies have the perfect opportunity to carve out a regional security architecture.
The joint statement released on August 13 says “The US Israel and the UAE are confident that additional diplomatic breakthroughs with other nations are possible”. What it means is that we may soon see other Gulf states, such as Bahrain and Oman, maybe even Saudi Arabia, establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. Statehood for the Palestinians, however, is difficult to envisage in the near future.
Courtesy: Moneycontrol.com
