PEACE DEAL
ISRAEL, UAE MAKE HISTORY
The Trump administration on Thursday hailed the establishment of full diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as a “historic breakthrough and a great day for peace.”
“This is an ice breaker between these two countries. This is the first Arab country to normalize relations with Israel in a long time,” Jared Kushner, the president’s sonin-law and senior adviser said at White House press conference.
Kushner noted it will allow for flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv, facilitating worship at important mosques.
The deal, announced earlier Thursday by Trump, makes the UAE the third Arab country to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.
Trump called the deal “a truly historic moment.”
“I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
In a nationally televised news conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed Trump’s remarks.
“Today we usher in a new era of peace between Israel and the Arab world,” he said. “There is a good chance we will soon see more Arab countries joining this expanding circle of peace.”
But Netanyahu said the annexation plan was on “temporary hold,” appearing to contradict statements from Emirati officials who said it was off the table.
For Trump, it gave an important boost to a president trailing in opinion polls and facing heavy criticism for his handling of the coronavirus crisis. It was also a rare achievement for his Mideast team, led by Kushner, whose Mideast plan has made little headway since it was unveiled early this year.
Israel and the UAE are among Trump’s few close international allies, and Thursday’s deal may have been seen as an election gift.
In a statement, presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden praised Israel for freezing the annexation plan.
“The United Arab Emirates and Israel have pointed a path toward a more peaceful,
stable Middle East,” he said, adding that a Biden presidency “will seek to build on this progress.”
Netanyahu chalked up a diplomatic victory at a time when his shaky coalition government has been plagued by infighting and faces the possibility of early elections. He also faces a corruption trial over charges stemming from a series of scandals.
But even his rivals praised the deal.
Netanyahu has seen his popularity plummet as Israel grapples with a renewed coronavirus outbreak, mass street protests and skyrocketing unemployment as the result of earlier lockdown measures.
For the UAE, home to skyscraper-studded Dubai and the rolling, oil-rich sand dunes of Abu Dhabi, it further burnishes its international campaign to be seen as a beacon of tolerance in the Middle East despite being governed by autocratic rulers. It also removes the stigma of recognizing Israel and could open the door for neighboring countries to follow suit.
The Gulf state of Bahrain welcomed the deal.
All in all, Netanyahu paid a relatively minor price. Although the hoped-for annexation plan is on hold, a halfcentury status quo remains in place in which Israel maintains its occupation of the West Bank and continues to expand its scores of settlements while Palestinians live in small autonomous enclaves. Those settlements are now home to some 500,000 Israelis.
The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, captured in the 1967 Mideast war, as the heartland of a future state. The Trump Mideast plan envisions granting Israel permanent control over 30% of that territory, while offering the Palestinians limited autonomy in the remainder. After embracing the plan, Netanyahu backed away from moving forward with annexation last month in the face of fierce international opposition and misgivings by White House officials.
The Palestinians have rejected Trump’s Mideast plan out of hand.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, convened a meeting of his top leadership Thursday night, and afterward his spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said the agreement amounted to “treason.” He added that the UAE must reverse the decision and urged other Arab countries not to follow suit “at the expense of Palestinian rights.”
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the Palestinian ambassador to the UAE was being recalled.
In Gaza, Hamas called the deal a “stabbing in the back of our people.”
Moving to head off the Palestinian criticism, UAE officials said the deal had prevented the annexation and kept hopes alive for Palestinian statehood.
“The UAE is using its gravitas and promise of a relationship to unscrew a time bomb that is threatening a two-state solution,” Gargash said.