'It's a game and we lost': Palestinians decry Gulf moves towards Israel
Shortly after Donald Trump announced he had brokered a “huge breakthrough” deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the White House published a list of bullet points detailing what it had achieved.
Only at the bottom, just after “expanded business and financial ties between these two thriving economies”, did the very last sentence blandly mention what had previously been the key regional issue: the fate of the Palestinians.
For decades, Israel’s relationship with its neighbours has been defined by its protracted occupation. The broadly accepted logic was that the only path to true peace with other countries in the Middle East was for Israel to end its trampling on Palestinian rights.
Shattering that assumption, the UAE established diplomatic ties with Israel on Thursday with almost no concessions for the Palestinians.
“What does it mean for the UAE to reconcile with Israel in light of the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank? I don’t know what that means in helping us,” said Sherine Abu Qamar, a 32-year-old fulltime mother living in Gaza.
“We have no interest in any Arab rapprochement with Israel, which kills us through blockade and bombing,” she added.
The UAE claims it saved Palestinians from the potentially catastrophic threat of Israeli annexation, which the country agreed to “suspend” as part of the deal. But Palestinians see that as a public relations move – the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been clear that annexation remains his long-term goal.
Instead, Abu Qamar said, the true reason for the deal had nothing to do with Palestinians and everything to do with Iran. “UAE is looking [out] for its own interest only and does not think of anyone. Iran is its enemy and it is looking for Israel to help it confront Iran,” she said.
Palestinians feel they have become a sideshow, with the headline act in the Middle East being a confrontation for regional dominance between Tehran and its allies against autocratic Gulf states, with Washington backing the latter. Israel, Iran’s arch-foe, naturally sees itself as fitting snugly on one side of that fight.
Access to Israel’s hi-tech security market has also proved a tempting incentive for Gulf states, as well as appeasing the Trump administration by cosying up to its cherished ally. Bahrain and Oman, which both welcomed the UAE move, are expected to announce greater ties with Israel in the near future.
“It’s all about interests; every party is looking for its own benefit,” said Loay Jarada, 22, a Palestinian university student in Gaza. “It’s a game and we lost.”
Said al Najaar, 45, a building contractor from Jerusalem, said while the UAE move hurt, it was not unexpected. “This is the beginning of the end of a long time of normalisation in the dark,” he said. “The Emiratis took off their mask and went public, but they were talking to the Israelis many years ago.”
On Friday, Palestinians were sharing a cartoon on social media. It displayed two pictures with the same image of a man in a blue jacket and Star of David on his kippah hugging a man in Gulfstyle clothing. On the first, they were hugging while hiding under a table. On the second, they were hugging openly sitting on top of it, suggesting that a hidden romance was now out in the open.
Tareq Baconi, an Israel-Palestine analyst for the International Crisis Group thinktank, said in an analysis posted on Twitter that Trump’s deal was not a “historic peace agreement” but a “repackaging” of the ongoing reality of Gulf-Israel relations.
“But, this is also not inconsequential business as usual. The UAE’s decision to proceed in this way is a dangerous precedent … where official normalisation has become possible despite continued Palestinian subjugation,” he said.
Palestinians say they can no longer expect their Arab allies to pressure Israel as they once did. Compounded by Trump’s aligning of US policy towards the Israeli hard right and dithering by European diplomats, the sense of abandonment is overwhelming.
“This is a bullet to the head of the Palestinian cause,” said a 20-yearold Palestinian student, who asked to remain anonymous. “And it will hurt and weaken the Palestinian position in front of the Israelis. We were always counting on the Arab countries to help us and stand against Israel. Not any more.”