The UAE-Israel Deal Is a Betrayal of Palestinians and Arabs
By
Daoud Kuttab
August 14,
2020
The useless
agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel is nothing but a ploy to
artificially inflate the Trump administration’s foreign policy achievements
ahead of the election. In real terms, it was nothing but leaders trading with
used goods.
Tel Aviv's city hall building lit up in the colours of the United Arab
Emirates national flag on Thursday after Israel and the UAE agreed to normalize
relations. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
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On
Thursday, President Trump announced that U.S. diplomats had brokered a major
breakthrough. The agreement basically declares that the corrupt government of
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will postpone its plans for the
unilateral annexation of occupied Palestinian land in return for normalization
with a small but rich Arab Gulf state. The problem with the big hoopla around
this is that it is neither a genuine breakthrough nor will it bring peace
between Israelis and Arabs anytime soon.
Israel’s
prime minister had already postponed the plans for unilateral annexation after
the international community, and more than half of Israelis had rejected the
move, which would have been a crass violation of international law. And for
their part, the United Arab Emirates had already broken its promises to
Palestinians and Arabs by conducting many acts of normalization with Israel.
UAE planes carrying aid for Palestinians have been allowed to fly directly to
Israeli airports recently. UAE and Israeli athletes participated together in
international events to signal warmer ties.
The UAE, a
member of the Arab League, originally agreed to the 2002 Saudi-initiated Arab
Peace Initiative that called for the normalization of relations in return for
the Israelis ending their 1967 occupation of Arab lands. Palestinians and the
world, including the United States, have considered the areas Israel took in
June 1967 to be occupied areas, and various regional and international
agreements have stressed this fact.
Then came
the Trump administration with its ill-advised vision for peace, which gave
Israel everything they wanted and didn’t even bring Palestinians to the
negotiating table.
Though now
more than ever there’s a real, urgent need to bring peace to the region, this
so-called breakthrough fails to provide even a road map for the end of the
decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
The timing
and context of this agreement can’t be ignored. Netanyahu is facing
well-documented corruption charges and is trying to wiggle himself out of a
governing deal with the centrist Blue and White party. He’s hoping that this
will improve his chances for an outright win in a potentially fourth Israeli
general election in less than two years.
Trump,
trailing badly in the polls, is hoping for a boost from his right-wing Zionist
supporters (both Jewish and evangelical Christians) in the form of campaign
funding, including from the pro-Netanyahu billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who was
upset that Trump didn’t support Netanyahu enough in his pursuit of the
unilateral annexation plan.
And Crown
Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (known as MBZ), who is also deputy supreme
commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, has been suffering military
and political defeats both in Yemen and in Libya, and certainly needed a
diplomatic victory to regain his footing, especially with the coronavirus
causing major economic problems to his oil-rich and tourism-dependent nation.
Had Israel
gone through with its unilateral annexation plans, it would have jeopardized
its peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt and could have brought sanctions
from traditional European supporters such as Germany, Britain and France.
The tragedy
in all of this is that Palestinians will be totally erased from all the talk of
“breakthroughs” and “peace.” But we know that genuine peace will only come by
seriously committing to end the Israeli occupation and creating a democratic
and peaceful Palestinian state that can exist side-by-side a safe and secure
Israel. Until then, all will be just part of an insulting diplomatic circus.
Original
Headline: The Israel-UAE agreement is an
insult to the peace Palestinians and Arabs want and need
Source: The Washington Post
URL: https://newageislam.com/current-affairs/the-uae-israel-deal-betrayal/d/122637