Building set ablaze amid Muslim cemetery protest
During unrest over Tel Aviv’s decision to go ahead with plans to construct a homeless shelter on land in Jaffa discovered to have been an old Muslim burial site, a number of vehicles and a municipality building were set ablaze Friday night.
The fire caused extensive damage to at least one of the offices in the building. There were also incidents of vandalism recorded in Jaffa.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality responded
There are plans to have an Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi in the same complex as a mosque and a church, Otaiba wrote.
Last month, “a new kosher caterer launched in Dubai to serve the growing Jewish community, the first new community in the Arab world in more than a century,” he continued.
He portrayed these gestures as “carrots” that had been provided in hopes of future peace but said annexation would counter those efforts.
“In the UAE and across much of the Arab world, we would like to believe Israel is an opportunity, not an enemy. We face too many common dangers and see the great potential of warmer ties. Israel’s decision on annexation will be an unmistakable signal of whether it sees it the same way,” the ambassador wrote.
The Yediot Aharonot article was retweeted by UAE Foreign Ministry’s director of strategic communications, Hend al-Otaiba with a Hebrew quote from the article.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat tweeted in response.
“What a nice surprise reading a tweet in Hebrew. Israel has extended its hand in peace to its neighbors since its creation. Peace is an opportunity for the whole Middle East and provides potential for us all,” Haiat wrote.
“The US Peace Initiative is a starting point to realize this vision,” he added.
UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov retweeted the video Otaiba made for The National, stating that his words were an “important message.”
The ambassador is at least the second UAE official to speak out about annexation this month. UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash tweeted that “Any unilateral Israeli move will be a serious setback for the peace process, undermine Palestinian self-determination [and] constitute a rejection of the international [and] Arab consensus towards stability [and] peace.”
Gargash is expected to address the American Jewish Committee’s Virtual Global Forum this week. •
not at Israel Hayom, a paper that is widely perceived as very close to President Benjamin Netanyahu, which could mean this is an appeal to Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, the partner in Netanyahu’s current coalition.
It can also be seen as a message to Netanyahu to give him a way out of going down the path of annexation because Netanyahu has long championed Israel’s foreign relations. What matters is that it appears it was directed at the largest possible Hebrew audience, with knowledge it would be picked up in English as well.
Otaiba’s accompany video message was in English. He warned that progress could be undermined by one simple step – annexation. There is an opportunity that could come in the next years. He warned the annexation could be a setback, especially regarding Israelis who are hoping for relations with new countries.
He even said that the annexation was being pitched to narrow interests and that more thought should be given to what might happen in a more broad context. He said it was important that the Israeli public have this as part of the conversation. In this two-pronged use of Hebrew media and English video, a clear message was sent.
3. Two UAE flights have landed in Israel with humanitarian aid
In the last months two UAE flights with humanitarian aid have arrived in Israel. This has been unprecedented and came amid the COVID-19 crisis. The first flight was on May 20. It was not coordinated with the Palestinian Authority and bypassed Jordanian airspace on its trip, raising questions about the controversy it might have caused and Abu Dhabi’s attempts to avoid controversy.
On June 9 a second flight arrived, this one with the UAE Etihad carrier’s markings and a UAE flag. This was an important symbol and judging by reactions to it, there was not very much controversy.
In light of the flights, the new articles and video seem to be suggesting that this progress is in jeopardy. It is important to recall here that overall the steps towards Israel by the UAE have appeared to be incremental and growing. For instance, in December, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for the UAE, tweeted an article by Ed Husain to his 4.6 million followers. It was about “Islam’s reformation, an Arab-Israeli alliance is taking shape in the Middle East.”
4. The rest of the Gulf
workshop that was supposed to be part of Trump’s peace deal. It showcased the economic package available to the Palestinians as part of the plan. Bahrain was slammed by Iran and others for hosting the discussion.
However, Bahrain has generally been the trial balloon in some comments about Israel over the last years. That the article this week comes from the UAE is a kind of escalation.
This is important because Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain cooperate closely on policy issues. They have cooperated in a rift with Qatar, for instance. In addition, unlike the monarchy in Kuwait, they have appeared to soften their views of Israel in the last decades. Kuwait is far more critical. Also, unlike Jordan, they have not used as harsh language about Israel’s potential annexation.
To understand how the Gulf is keyed in to discussing Israel, issues it is worth recalling that in October 2018 Netanyahu went to Oman on a surprise visit. That means 2018 was the year of Oman, in a sense. Oman also suggested more positive relations with Israel at subsequent meetings in Manama and in Jordan.
However, Oman’s overall policy was not clear, because it has also hosted Iranian delegations and it appears to think of itself as a kind of neutral power in the region. From 2018 the unprecedented visits continued with Netanyahu in Chad in January 2019. Then came the discussions with Sudan in February 2020.
Oman. Chad. Bahrain. Sudan. That is the kind of map of warming relations with Israel since 2018. UAE’s message in this context is important. It also comes in the wake of an oped by World Jewish Congress head Ron Lauder in Arab News in Saudi Arabia in May.
5. The regional implications
There is a growing crescendo of warnings to Israel about annexation. This has come particularly from Jordan and also from Egypt and Russia in recent weeks. Most countries feel the need to say something, but the question is which are serious in their opposition and which are
simply paying more lip service?
There are already enough crises in the Middle East, so annexation could either add fuel or could be seen as yet another problem.
For instance, Lebanon and Syria are in the middle of an economic disaster. ISIS is rising again in Iraq as the US contemplates withdrawing some forces. Iran is stoking tensions in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon and Syria with weapons trafficking. Turkey is sending drones and forces to Libya.
The unseen opposition to annexation may come from Turkey, which has been distracted by Idlib conflicts in Syria and by Libya, but it is possible it will ramp up opposition to inflame the region. Turkey supports Hamas in Gaza and is one of the largest implacable foes of Israel’s policies. When Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem, Turkey became the main opponent to the move in the region.
In this context the UAE warning and messages about shared interests or threats could have larger implications relating to the regional alliances in the Middle East today. Turkey and Qatar are opposed to the UAESaudi-Egypt-Bahrain alliance system. Iran and its work in Lebanon-Syria-Yemen is opposed to the Saudi-led system as well.
Potentially, this means Iran and Turkey could coordinate opposition to Israel’s annexation. The UAE’s message may be saying symbolically that Israel and the Gulf need each other and that growing relations are necessary, not pouring cold water on them.
The message may be that Israel cannot get both closer relations and ignore totally the Palestinian issue by redrawing the lines of the status quo.
Would Israel risk its currently strong position in the Middle East by proceeding. This is the question that presents itself as a hinge in the region. For many years the region has not hinged on changes in the Palestinian-Israel conflict. This is because of larger regional issues, such as the rise of Iran, ISIS and instability and civil wars.
Annexation might put the Israel-Palestinian issue back at the forefront of Middle East affairs. That is the regional question mark that hangs over this issue and which was raised by the ambassador’s unprecedented article. •