On this Day August 13:
NORMALIZATION BETWEEN UAE AND ISRAEL

Today, on August 13 last year, an event that significantly shook the world took place: the normalisation of ties between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel. This effort is considered to be the result of years upon years of failed treatise and negotiations between the two countries. It must be noted that prior to this, countries within the Middle East, including the UAE, did not recognize the establishment of the state of Israel whatsoever. On this day, the President of the USA at the time, Donald Trump, announced the deal-- known as the Abraham Accords-- that may potentially normalise ties between UAE and Israel. Although the two nations seem to have a different perspective on the deal, with the UAE saying that the agreement to normalisation would stop the annexation of the West Bank, which the UAE wishes to see, and Israel seeing that the this deal was merely to make a temporary ‘wait’ to the said annexation (Heller, 2020). Considering this difference, how did this agreement come to be? And how will this affect the political climate of the globe and of the Middle Eastern?

According to Heller (2020), the relationship between the UAE-- along with most Middle Eastern states-- and Israel started after the the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) convened and passed Resolution 242 which entails the withdrawal of the Israel armed forces from the territories it has occupied during the 1967’s Six-Day War-- a conflict that occured at the time. All other deals that followed were either ignored or disagreed upon. So it may come across as curious: Why did the UAE decide to finally establish formal ties with Israel, despite years of disagreement?

The two countries have actually slowly initiated diplomatic processes since 2015, beginning with the opening of an Israeli diplomatic office in the capital of Abu Dhabi. Yet, the key moment that led to the normalisation deals being put in motion happened on July 1 2020, when Israel halted the annexation of the West Bank. The Emiratis proposed that as long as annexation is off the table, normalisation could be in order. Though, as mentioned above, both sides seem to have different interpretations of what the agreement will entail. Eventually, Donald Trump was the one to finally formalise the deal under the name of the Abraham Accords as he sympathizes with the effort of establishing and improving diplomatic relations between Israel and other Arab states. Many things were included within the Abraham Accords, from scientific cooperation, tourism initiatives, and cooperation in managing security (Cook, 2020).

There are many socio-political consequences and effects that have gone into motion ever since the deal was struck between the two parties. Firstly, the Palestinian Ambassador to the UAE was recalled, which was then followed by a statement made by Palestinian officials suggesting a feeling of betrayal from their end (Holmes & Borger, 2020). Many countries at the time, most notably Iran and Turkey, have also harshly criticized UAE’s actions. Such criticisms have included some threats to national security of the UAE from Iran, and Turkey increasing funding to Islamist factions within the region to delay UAE’s agenda in the Middle East.  Moreover, it must be noted that what the UAE truly seeks to gain from this deal is improving their image within the eyes of the US in order to get some advanced technologies the US was initially unwilling to give to the UAE (Middle East Institute, 2020). Additionally, there is a potential for some countries within the region to follow the steps taken by the UAE as there are many who are sympathetic towards the state in general. On the other hand, those who are not would not want to lose connections with a wealthy country that is quite prominent in the region (Alterman, 2020).