The recent agreement announced to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates may not be the wonderful good fortune it claims to be.
The agreement negotiated through the White House, which was announced with wonderful fanfare on August 13, is undoubtedly a diplomatic victory for U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared his signature a “historic day.”
But the United Arab Emirates and Israel have never been at war, so the new agreement between them is not actually a peace treaty, as some White House officials and some press articles have suggested, it is an agreement to officially initiate relations that have been slowly improving for some time, a procedure that is likely to take a slow and temporary position.
Nor is it an agreement that is helping the long-standing confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians, the subject of my educational studies and my recent book.its negotiating position with Israel.
Until now, Israeli-Emirati dating in development has been conducted informally and secretly.In large part, it was aimed at intelligence exchange to counter its unusual enemy, Iran.The new agreement, dubbed the Abrahamic Accords, will be this de facto alliance opposed to Iran.
It will also boost industrial ties between the two nations, which have already begun to expand in recent years. Economic and technological cooperation between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, an economic center in the Gulf region, can now publicly take position and expand into more areas.
Scientific cooperation, i.e. around the COVID-19 pandemic, will also begin, as will tourism.Israel and the United Arab Emirates will gain advantages from their developing relationship.
The White House and Israeli officials hope that the agreement will also inspire other Persian Gulf states into their own relations with Israel, with the highest in Bahrain and Oman likely to stick to the leadership of the United Arab Emirates.Both countries expressed their assistance in the agreement.
However, Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab state in the Gulf, has visibly kept quiet about the agreement.Because of his preference for leading the Sunni Muslim world and his cautious foreign policy, it seems unlikely that the Saudis will normalize relations with Israel unless there is primary progress.to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The agreement sees this clash by preventing Israel from fulfilling its promise to unilaterally annex portions of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a territory that Palestinians claim as their land.
The Emiratis called for this concession to Israel in exchange for normalization of relations, but it is transparent that the Israeli-Emirati agreement will announce to customers peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
On the one hand, Israeli analysts question whether Prime Minister Netanyahu intended to suspend his crusader promises to annex the West Bank component, especially in the midst of an economic and fitness crisis.Israel now faces its wave of coronavirus, which would be illegal under foreign law, also faces national, American and foreign opposition.
President Trump declared the annexation “off the table” following the agreement with the United Arab Emirates, but Netanyahu claims it is postponed.
Palestinians say they don’t care much if Israel canceled or simply suspended its official annexation of West Bank territory.In any case, some 2.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank will continue under the rule of the Israeli army along with an ever-growing Jewish settler.population of more than 430,000.
Israel has been building its settlements in the West Bank since it conquered the territory in the 1967 war.Palestinians and many observers see the relentless expansion of Jewish settlements as a “progressive annexation” of West Bank lands through Israel.
This procedure will continue despite the agreement. This may even increase if Netanyahu tries to appease the Jewish settlers, who feel betrayed by his suspension of annexation.
The divided and damaged leadership of the Palestinians unanimously denounced the agreement.They describe it as a “backstab” for the United Arab Emirates to break the Arab consensus to normalize relations with Israel until it makes peace with the Palestinians.In practice, this would mean fleeing the West Bank and allowing the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israel has now achieved normalization with a vital Arab state without making territorial concessions to the Palestinians.Palestinians are concerned that Israel has less incentive to leave the West Bank.This is especially true if other Arab allies are tired of supporting the Palestinian cause and forging relations with Israel on the basis of their own interests, as the United Arab Emirates has done.
“Never be sold through your “friends,” tweeted Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian in reaction to the deal.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a non-profit news story committed to sharing concepts from education experts.
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Dov Waxman works, consults, maintains shares or obtains investments from any company or organization that benefits from this article, and has disclosed any applicable association beyond its university appointment.