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On December 12, 2021, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (left) is welcomed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (right) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates .
Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) | Handouts | Getty Images Anadolu Agency
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet made a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates on Monday. This is the first public meeting of Israeli leaders with the de facto ruler of the UAE and Crown Prince Sheikh of Abu Dhabi. Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Bennett took this opportunity to emphasize what he saw and the new reality of the Middle East described by regional analysts: “In my opinion, this is the peace and new reality that the region is witnessing. We are working together to ensure that our children There is a better future,” he told WAM, the UAE national news agency.
Late Monday, Bennett’s office announced that Mohammed bin Zayed had accepted an invitation from Israeli leaders to visit Israel. The date of that visit has not yet been determined.
With the mediation of the Trump administration, the UAE and Israel signed the historic Abraham Agreement in August 2020, which marked the first normalization of relations between Israel and an Arab Gulf country. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco subsequently reached their own normalization agreements with Israel.
Despite some criticism from other parts of the Arab world, Israel and the UAE have made progress in a multi-billion-dollar partnership in trade, tourism, technology, and transportation. In the months after the agreement was signed, Israeli tourists poured into the UAE’s restaurants, beaches and shopping malls. An open-air Hanukkah was held in Dubai in December, which was unthinkable two years ago.
On January 11, 2021, an Israeli tourist wearing a mask is in Dubai’s historic al-Fahidi neighborhood. Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns have been tightened in most areas of the world, and Dubai is still open to tourism, making itself a sunny, quarantine-free city to escape—despite a sharp increase in cases.
Karim Sahib | AFP via Getty Images
Speaking of the agreement, Bennett said: “The relations between the two countries in various fields have been strengthened. I am very satisfied with this because many cooperation agreements have been reached in the fields of trade, research and development, cyber security, health, education, etc., Aviation Wait, I look forward to the continued development and consolidation of the relationship.”
In terms of the defense strategy against the common adversary Iran, the strengthening of ties between the UAE and Israel is beneficial to both countries. Taufiq Rahim, a senior researcher at the International Security Project of the New American Think Tank in Dubai, said that despite this, this week’s meeting is more important in enhancing Bennett’s image at home.
“This visit is going on for a year and is outdated in some respects. The relationship between the two countries has accelerated significantly. The return of this meeting to Israel will be a new strategy for Bennett’s status as prime minister. Change is more impactful.”
Increased interests with Iran
At the time of the meeting, tensions in the region between Iran and its opponents continued to escalate. Tehran accelerated nuclear development and participated in negotiations with Western powers in an attempt to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.
The Obama-era agreement was officially called the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan, which lifted economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program. Since former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018, both sides have been severely damaged And re-impose painful sanctions on Iran. For a long time, Israel has verbally opposed the restoration of the agreement.
Samuel Ramani, a tutor in the Department of International Relations at the University of Oxford, said that in addition to further promoting bilateral cooperation with the UAE, the timing of Bennett’s visit also resulted in a deadlock in the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear agreement. The risk of conflict in Iran is related. “Ten years ago, the Iranian threat was a key driver of informal Israeli-UAE cooperation, and Israel will want to ensure that it remains an area of ​​cooperation at this dangerous time.”
At the same time, the most powerful countries in the Gulf region-Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates-have made a gesture of reconciliation with Tehran. Saudi officials have held direct talks with Iran to ease tensions, but no breakthrough is currently expected.Those news The Biden administration welcomes the talksIn early December, Sheikh Tanun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, brother of the UAE’s highest national security adviser Mohammed bin Zayed, visited Iran to improve bilateral relations.
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