JOIN USA US-brokered agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is poised to alter West Asian geopolitics. Under the deal, the UAE will establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel. The two countries have had clandestine ties that go back to the 1990s. That secret relationship has come out of the closet now and cooperation is poised to deepen. The UAE is the third Arab country, after Egypt and Jordan, and the first Gulf Arab country to have official relations with Israel. A shared hostility towards Iran is a big factor in the UAE-Israel decision to formalise ties. It will prompt other Gulf Arab nations to join the UAE in establishing relations with Israel. For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing trial on corruption charges, the deal is a foreign policy victory that enables him to deflect Israeli public attention away from domestic woes. US President Donald Trump, whose other diplomatic gambles in North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran have proved to be either disastrous or inconclusive, will seek to project the Israel-UAE agreement as a foreign policy achievement of his administration. It could help him draw the Jewish-American and conservative Christian vote in the upcoming presidential elections.
Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to “suspend declaring sovereignty" over areas of the occupied West Bank. This would have been a positive achievement had Israel committed to something more than just a mere suspension. As it stands, it has simply put on hold its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank. Already, Netanyahu has clarified that he only agreed to “delay” the annexation, and that he would “never give up” on Israel’s “rights” to the land. Netanyahu heads a fragile coalition government and his decision to agree to suspend the annexation plan is just a tactical move aimed at tiding over a political crisis. Hence, it is only a matter of time before he pulls back on the flimsy commitment he has made on the West Bank under the deal.
The agreement is a deadly blow to the Palestinian cause. The Arab League had reached a consensus back in 2002 to normalise relations with Israel only after an independent Palestinian State had been established in all of West Bank and the Gaza Strip. By according Israel recognition, the UAE has broken ranks with that consensus. With other Arab countries likely to follow in UAE’s footsteps, the Palestinians will be left with few supporters in the Arab world. Israel and anti-Iran countries in West Asia have emerged stronger from the deal.