UAE expects 'warm peace' and progress with Israel and Palestinians
“It's about the long-term vision, not immediate quick wins. It's about a vision against extremist views and interference,” says UAE Policy Planning Dept. director Jamal Al-Musharakh.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANPRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed display their copies of signed agreements normalizing relations between Israel and the UAE, in Washington, in September.(photo credit: TOM BRENNER/REUTERS)
The United Arab Emirates values the warm peace that is emerging with Israel. It also expects to see progress in negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.“While US involvement remains and international processes continue, if both sides do not sit down and talk about this, then we will have a long period of regional uncertainty,” said Jamal al-Musharakh, director of the UAE Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry’s Policy Planning Department, in an interview. The peace agreement with the UAE has seen rapid expansion of ties in the past weeks, especially on the economic front. Tourism is expected to grow in the coming months. The initiative to move forward on normalizing ties with Israel has always had multiple angles for the Emirates. Among these is the importance of stability in the region. That means stability in institutions in places where conflict and instability have been a concern, such as Yemen, Libya and Syria. Musharakh says that people in these countries should be able to have their “grievances addressed by their own governments rather than relying on an outside government with ill intentions.”The UAE’s foreign policy team, including Ambassador to the US Yousef al-Otaiba and Hend al-Otaiba, director of strategic communications at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have both said in recent interviews and articles how the peace deal came about in recent weeks. At the online Jewish magazine Tablet, Hend wrote that “we were certain that Israeli annexation would kill the two-state solution once and for all. So we acted fast, offering normalization of ties, in exchange for a stop to annexation.”Musharakh said that “the Abraham Accords came at a very unique time during the beginning of a new decade when the global focus has been on countering the COVID-19 pandemic. When the Abraham Accords came about, it surprised the region and the international community. The impact has been a positive one, and the reactions that we have received were expected.”This represents a paradigm shift when it comes to how the region is viewed, he noted. It benefits the entire region and is underpinned with investment and tourism.“This understanding can make a huge impact because we lived next to each other for so long without knowing much about each other,” Musharakh said.“The UAE has developed the concepts of tolerance, cooperation, partnership and coexistence, as we are a year away from our 50th anniversary,” he said. “This has always been a topic at the forefront of the international agenda, and so this prospect is a positive step to change the image of Israel to the Arabs and the UAE, and vice versa.”As part of this wider strategic vision, the Emirates has strategic partnerships with countries in Europe, as well as dialogues with the US and India.“For instance, we have a strategic relationship with Russia and the US and China,” he noted. “It’s really about showing that the UAE is the country that would partner with other countries to the benefit of the international community, not simply the two countries involved.”This is important since it relates to the emerging ties between Israel and the UAE – because it is about a collective benefit to the region. “It’s about the long-term vision, not immediate quick wins. It’s about a vision against extremist views and interference.”The UAE expects that a “warm peace” will emerge because Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi have no history of disputes.However, while the accords benefit the region, the issue of peace with the Palestinians and Israel is important as well. And Musharakh indicated that the Emirates wants to play a positive role in any way going forward.“It is important to elevate this vision of non-isolation and see progress in negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis,” he said. “This will show that there is hope to move forward, and at the end of the day, it is on them to find a resolution to the underlying cause in the region.
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