A leading company focused on virtual transformation.
By Rami Ayyub and Alexander Cornwell
TEL AVIV / DUBAI (Reuters) – From a proposed rail link to the Gulf from the Israeli port of Haifa to fast direct flights from Tel Aviv, the prospect of formality with the United Arab Emirates is generating excitement in Israel.
In the United Arab Emirates, which Israeli business leaders with foreign passports have been visiting for years, corporations likely to be applicants for agreements with Israel are taking a more cautious stance, waiting for the government’s leadership on long-term policy.
Israel and the Gulf State announced Thursday that they would normalize relations as a component of a U.S.-sponsored agreement that is still awaiting negotiations on major points, such as the opening of embassies and routes before it officially becomes firm.
Israeli officials temporarily highlighted the economic benefits of the agreement, which, once formalized, would also come with agreements on tourism, technology, energy, physical care and security, among others.
Some Israelis and Emirati have already signed agreements since Thursday, and several small-scale medical and defense collaborations were announced in the weeks leading up to the standardization agreement.
But state entities and Emirati personal corporations were wary of discussing investment opportunities before they were official, and many declined to comment.
The conglomerate Al Habtoor Group, which owns several hotels in Dubai, is in talks with its spouse with Israeli airline Israel, said a spokeswoman, who refused to provide additional details. It is too early to talk about the expansion of the group’s activities in Israel, he said.
Abu Dhabi State Fund Mubadala declined to comment on the trade opportunities arising from the agreement, and some government departments postponed requests for comments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Significant IMPROVEMENT”
Israeli Finance Minister Israel Katz said that an official from the United Arab Emirates “could be the basis for a very significant improvement in the Israeli economy, along with, of course, the things they want from us: in water technology, agriculture, cutting-edge technology.”
On Israeli radio Kan, Katz highlighted major regional transport projects – “a rail link between the Gulf countries and the port of Haifa” – which he said would make Israel the “gateway to the Mediterranean” of the United Arab Emirates.
It is expected that this rail network will pass through Saudi Arabia, which has no relations with Israel and has therefore been silent about its agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
An Israeli delegation in the United Arab Emirates is expected to expand standardization in a few weeks, a historic replacement that may simply reshape the Middle East policy of the Palestinian factor to the opposite combat of Iran.
The United Arab Emirates would be the third Arab state in more than 70 years to identify relations with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan.
‘DON’T BET YOUR T-SHIRTS’
But there are sensitivities for corporations to braishly welcome Israeli investment in the Arab world’s second-largest economy, while public opinion in the Middle East is largely pro-Palestinian.
Some in the United Arab Emirates have called for a boycott of Israel to remedy Palestinians in the occupied territories.
Robert Mogielnicki of the Gulf Arab States Institute in Washington said corporations in the United Arab Emirates would thoroughly assess regional reactions to the agreement to tensions in existing relations.
“Corporations established in the United Arab Emirates and the family business circle are not going to bet their T-shirts just to penetrate Israeli markets,” he said.
Israeli investors recognize that the new industrial agreements will likely take time to conclude, but say Israel’s burgeoning high-tech scene and inventions in the agricultural sector would be hard to let go of the United Arab Emirates.
Jon Medved, chief executive of Israel’s crowdfunding company OurCrowd, said that “co-investment talks (with Israelis) are taking place in the Arab world, not just with the United Arab Emirates,” alluding to Israeli expectations that Bahrain and Oman will stick to normalizing relations. .
Tourism may also benefit, according to some analysts, although it would take time to start given the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on travel around the world.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel is preparing for direct flights over Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates, but did not give a deadline for its departure.
Saudi Arabia recognizes Israel and its airspace is closed to Israeli aircraft.
When asked about flights to Israel, the Dubai Emirates said they had nothing to announce. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways did not comment quickly when it was contacted via Reuters.
(This story went into correct typographical errors in paragraph 15, 20, commentary on 17)
(Information through Rami Ayyub in Tel Aviv and Alexander Cornwell in Dubai with more reports through Steven Scheer, Dan Williams and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Hadeel Al Sayegh in Dubai; edited through Jeffrey Heller and Angus MacSwan)