JERUSALEM (AP) — When Israel struck a deal with the United Arab Emirates to open diplomatic ties in 2020, it brought an electrifying sense to a country long ostracized in the Middle East.
The officials insisted that Israel’s new ties with the UAE, and soon after Bahrain, would move beyond government pacts and the entire society, fueling mass tourism and friendly exchanges between others who had long been at odds.
But more than two years after the historic agreements, the expected influx of tourists from the Persian Gulf to Israel has been little more than a network. Emirati citizens have visited Israel since coronavirus-related restrictions were lifted last year, Israel’s Tourism Ministry told The Associated Press.
The ministry knows how many Bahrainis have visited Israel because, it said, “the number is too small. “
“It’s a very strange and delicate situation,” said Morsi Hija, director of the Arabic-speaking tour guides forum in Israel. “The Emiratis feel they have done something wrong by coming here. “
The lack of Emirati and Bahraini tourists reflects Israel’s longstanding symbolic challenge to the Arab world and the limits of the Abraham Accords, experts say.
Even though the bilateral industry between Israel and the UAE soared from $11. 2 million in 2019 to $1. 2 billion last year, the popularity of the deals in the UAE and Bahrain has plummeted since the agreements were signed, according to a survey by the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy. an American think tank.
In the UAE, it has fallen from 47% to 25% in the last two years. In Bahrain, only 20% of the population agrees, compared to 45% in 2020. At that time, Israeli and Gaza militants waged a devastating war and violence in the occupied West Bank reached its highest point in years.
Israeli officials say Persian Gulf tourism to Israel is a missing piece that would take the agreements beyond security and diplomatic relations. Sightseeing from Egypt and Jordan, the first two countries to make peace with Israel, also do not exist.
“We have to inspire (the Emiratis) to come for the first time. This is a vital mission,” Amir Hayek, Israel’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, told the AP. “We want to advertise tourism so that other people know and perceive another. “
Israeli tourism officials traveled to the United Arab Emirates last month as part of a marketing crusade to raise awareness that Israel is an exciting destination. The ministry said it now presents Tel Aviv, Israel’s shopping and entertainment hub, as a major draw for Emiratis.
Tour agents say that, so far, bets on Jerusalem have failed. The unrest in the disputed city has discouraged Emiratis and Bahrainis, some of whom have faced backlash from Palestinians who see normalization as a betrayal of their cause. The Palestinian struggle for independence from Israel is widespread in the Arab world.
“There are still many doubts in the Arab world,” said Dan Feferman, director of Sharaka, an organization that promotes people-to-people exchanges between Israel and the Arab world. “They expect (Israel) to be a shock zone, they expect to be discriminated against. “
Feferman also cited Israel’s strict coronavirus restrictions that were in place for 2021 and part of 2022, as well as the lack of visas for Bahrainis, as points restricting tourism from the Gulf region.
He said he felt the trips left him with a positive impression of Israel. However, after leading two teams of Bahrainis and Emiratis to Israel, Sharaka diverted his attention from visits to the Gulf.
When an organization of Emirati and Bahraini social media influencers visited the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, in 2020, they were spat on and bombarded with shoes in Jerusalem’s Old City, said Hija, their tour guide.
When another organization of Emirati officials saw the hotspot accompanied by Israeli police, they drew the ire of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, who issued a devout edict against Emiratis visiting the mosque under Israeli supervision.
Most Emiratis and Bahrainis who visited Israel say they gave up their national dress and headscarves to get attention.
The Islamic Waqf, which runs the mosque, declined to answer questions about the number of Emirati and Bahraini visitors and their treatment at the compound.
Palestinian anger against the Emiratis is not limited to the sacred esplanade. Emirati citizens who stop and examine in Israel say they are threatened with death and attacked online.
“Not everyone can handle the pressure,” said Sumaiiah Almehiri, a 31-year-old Emirati from Dubai who is reading to a nurse at the University of Haifa. “I didn’t give in to threats, but worry prevents many Emiratis from leaving. “
Fear of anti-Arab racism in Israel can also drive Arabs away from the Gulf. Israeli police mistakenly arrested two Emirati tourists in Tel Aviv last summer while they were a thief who shot a car. Some Emiratis complained on social media that they had drawn attention. of security officials at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.
“If you bring them here and don’t treat them sensitively, they will never come back and tell all their friends to stay away,” Hija said.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned for a sixth term as prime minister last week, pledged to sign deals with Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan. to ratify its US-brokered normalization agreement with Israel.
As the lead architect of the agreements, Netanyahu also hopes to widen the circle of countries and reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia.
However, experts worry that his new government, the highest ultra-nationalist and religiously conservative in Israel’s history, could further deter Arab tourists from the Gulf and even jeopardize the deals. which was suspended as a condition of the original agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
“We have an explanation why we should worry about any deterioration in relations,” said Moran Zaga, an expert on the Persian Gulf states at the University of Haifa in Israel.
So far, Gulf Arab governments have given no cause for concern.
The Emirati ambassador was photographed warmly hugging Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the coalition’s most radical members, at a National Day birthday party last month. And over the weekend, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called Netanyahu to congratulate him and invite him to scale there.
This is a story among those who are not in the administration.
“I hope Netanyahu and those accompanying him do not set foot in the land of the Emirates,” Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent Emirati political scientist, wrote on Twitter. “I think it is appropriate to temporarily freeze the Abraham Accords. “
___
This story was first published on January 3, 2023. It was updated on 15 January 2023 to explain Israel’s strict coronavirus restrictions that were in place in 2021 and part of 2022, as well as the lack of visas for Bahrainis. , were also restriction points for tourism in the Gulf region.