Israel, UAE continue to develop ties with 1st visit

PM’s recent trip latest move in a warming relationship for countries previously at odds over treatment of Palestine

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became the first Israeli leader to make an official visit to the United Arab Emirates, after flying to Abu Dhabi on Sunday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the de facto Emirati leader.

The visit is the latest sign of deepening ties between Israel and parts of the Arab world, a process that accelerated in the fall of 2020 when Israel began to sign diplomatic agreements with four countries, including the United Arab Emirates, that had previously avoided formal relations with Israel because of its conflict with the Palestinians.

The meeting also highlights how those 2020 agreements — which were brokered by President Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, Bennett’s predecessor as prime minister — have endured beyond the demise of the Trump and Netanyahu administrations.

By flying to Abu Dhabi, Bennett achieved a foreign-policy laurel that was denied to Netanyahu, who was forced to cancel three trips last winter, partly because of coronavirus restrictions and partly because Emirati leaders balked at the prospect of becoming props in his reelection campaign.

Israeli Cabinet ministers have since visited the Emirates but never a prime minister.

Shortly before takeoff, Bennett said his visit highlighted how relations between Israel and the Emirates were “excellent and extensive.” He said: “We must continue to foster and strengthen them, and build the warm peace between the two peoples.”

Prince Mohammed’s invitation to Bennett underscored the shifting priorities of Persian Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates, for whom the threat of a nuclear Iran is now of far greater concern than an immediate resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Once a regional backwater, the Emirates has in recent decades used its oil revenues to become a major force in the Middle East, funding and providing military support to allies in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere.

For decades, only Egypt and Jordan had formal relations with Israel, with most Arab leaders preferring to delay a détente until the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Having long maintained clandestine ties, the Emirates finally announced a formal relationship with Israel in August 2020 after Israel promised to postpone its plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Deals with Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan soon followed and were condemned by Palestinian leaders.

Since then, Emirati officials had said little about the Palestinians, with mutual fears over Iran’s nuclear program forming the bedrock of the Israel-Emirati relationship instead.

The value of trade between the Emirates and Israel has also rapidly increased: In the first seven months of 2021, bilateral trade was worth more than $600 million, according to statistics cited in September by an Israeli official — about $550 million more than during the equivalent period in 2020. Banks, universities, airlines and technology firms in the two countries have signed partnership deals, and their armies have conducted joint exercises.

But even in the Emirates, there are signs of caution about attracting too much attention to its relationship with Israel. Bennett’s office invited dozens of Israel-based journalists to accompany him on his flight to Abu Dhabi, but Emirati officials declined to organize a news conference for them or to host them at the prince’s palace.