UAE: Israel deal is about halting annexation and boosting economic, not Iran

"In the 18 years since the Arab Peace Initiatives, the biggest threat to a two-state solution has been annexation," the Emirati foreign minister said.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, speaks at an event at Chatham House in London, Britain July 17, 2017 (photo credit: REUTERS/NEIL HALL)
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, speaks at an event at Chatham House in London, Britain July 17, 2017
(photo credit: REUTERS/NEIL HALL)
The burgeoning peace deal with Israel had more to do with suspending West Bank annexation and boosting the economy, than with regional tensions over Iran, the United Arab Emirates’ State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told the Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank.
“We felt that tying this with the suspension of annexation will actually give us a good deal in many ways – even in the Arab context,” Gargash said in a wide ranging interview on Thursday.
He clarified that as part of the deal, Israel has agreed to suspend annexation, a move which could preserve the option for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“It’s a firm commitment by the Israeli government, which gives you space for a two-state solution. And if you look, really, at the Arab Peace Initiative, [it] is really about a two-state solution,” the minister said. “Peace for normalization – that’s also important.”
Gargash referenced the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which offered Israel normalized ties with 57 Arab and Muslims states, if it agreed to a two-state resolution based on the pre-1967 lines. Jerusalem has rejected any option of a return to the pre-1967 lines, which would include giving up half of Jerusalem including its Old City. It has instead argued that the best way to move forward with peace is to forge ties first with the Arab world.
“In the 18 years since the Arab Peace Initiative, the biggest threat to a two-state solution has been annexation,” Gargash said.
This deal, he said, “delivers a clear promise of suspension of annexation,” adding that there is no “time-frame” with respect to that suspension.
“I think we have a good space here: a good period of time to avoid annexation,” so that the Palestinians can return to the negotiating table, he said.
The longer the Palestinians wait, the more they lose out to Israel, Gargash said.
“What was available to the Arabs in 1948 became impossible in ’67. What was available in ’67 became impossible later on,” the minister said.
The actual details regarding the borders of a Palestinian state should be left up to the Palestinians and Israel, he said. But in the interim, the UAE plans to open an Embassy in Tel Aviv as opposed to Jerusalem.
“As part of the international consensus on the two-state solution, any embassy will be in Tel Aviv – so that is quite clear,” Gargash said.
THE UAE did not divulge information about the deal with other Arab states in advance, nor did it consult with the Palestinians, he explained.
“We did not discuss this deal, prior to the announcement, with any of our friends – none of them. No Arab country: nobody. Because we clearly thought that this will actually jeopardize the deal,” he said. “Imagine if we had opened up this conversation with the Palestinians?”
There is global support for the deal, Gargash explained. Those who oppose it, such as Turkey and Iran, do so for polarized, regional reasons. The deal itself is not a divisive factor and did not create new lines of polarization, but rather exacerbated existing ones.
“There are no new lines that have been redrawn as a result of the UAE announcing that it will normalize relationships with Israel,” he said. “The lines are the same, but there’s new ammunition, so to speak, to use in these same arguments.”
He credited Iran’s regional aggression with opening the window for normalized ties with Israel.
“The Iranian rhetoric and aggressive regional position over the years has made deals like this possible… by changing the sort of sentiment in the region. Because the Iranians, rather than reaching out to the region throughout all the years, have sort of not talked with the region,” he said.
“But on the other hand, this deal is not about Iran. This is really about the UAE… and its prospects. It’s about supporting the two-state solution. And it’s about supporting the more moderate view vis-à-vis the Palestinian-Israeli issue. It’s not about Iran.”
He also credited the US with making the deal possible.
The “American administration played a major role in this,” Gargash added.
THE DEAL came about primarily due to a confluence of two factors: annexation and the slowly growing ties between his country and Israel, he explained.
The ties with Israel began informally through economics and the UAE’s desire to host international events. It’s ability to be awarded that opportunity came part and parcel with a commitment to include Israelis, for whom official visas had to be granted.
In 2009, the Emirates competed and prevailed against Germany and Denmark to host the headquarters of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), where it still is to this day.
“It was clear that in order for us to have a fighting chance, we should accept that Israel... will be able to have a delegation, and a presence, and so on and so forth,” Gargash said.
This year, the UAE is hosting the international EXPO 2021 that includes an Israeli exhibit, which needs the presence of an Israeli delegation.
Normalized ties were “going to happen” either in 2020 or “next year or the year after. It was a matter of time,” Gargash said.
This is true for a number of Arab countries who are already in various stages of normalization with Israel, he added.
THEN THERE is the economic factor, he said.
“Our economy is larger than the Israeli economy,” but Israel has a critical advantage in certain fields such as agriculture and medicine, some that are particularly important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gargash said.
“We will benefit from the sort of technological prowess of the Israelis in certain areas, and they will benefit also from the dynamic nature of the UAE’s economy,” the minister said.
“This is going to be a warm peace because we really – unlike Jordan and unlike Egypt – have not fought a war with Israel,” he said. “So that is not really a factor here. It’s not part of the, let’s say, national psyche.”
At some point, he said, it was natural to link the warming ties between the UAE and Israel with annexation.
“Part of the thinking in all three capitals [UAE, Israel and the US] was, can we actually connect the two?” Could we “take something [off the table], which is annexation, and give normalization? You don’t get the big opportunities unless you take a big risk,” Gargash added.
With respect to the possibility that the deal includes the sale of sophisticated military weapons such as the F-35 fighter jets, Gargash said the matter has already been on the table for six years.
Israel and the UAE have never been at war so there is no reason to hold back on the sale, he said.
“The F-35, as I said, is a request we made six years ago. Many of our requests in terms of defense are requests that precede this deal. They are not connected to it,” Gargash said.
“The F-35 has always been a target for the UAE’s defense requirements,” he added.


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