The announcement that Israel and the United Arab Emirates will be normalizing relations and signing a peace agreement may have taken many by surprise but it was actually the result of years of groundwork.
While the two countries were never in direct military conflict with one another, the UAE did not officially recognize the existence of the State of Israel. The Gulf state did not allow Israeli citizens to enter its borders and no Israeli aircraft were allowed to fly through UAE airspace. Israel did not place similar restrictions on the UAE, but Abu Dhabi nevertheless did not permit its citizens to travel to Israel.
What changed?
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2009: The Enemy of My Enemy
Iran’s nuclear aspirations first brought the two countries together. The United Arab Emirates is a Sunni Muslim state and its leaders fear Iran’s desire to establish a Shiite caliphate in the Middle East.
In 2009, the UAE and Israeli ambassadors to the United States joined forces in a bid to force the White House to adopt a tough stance regarding Iran. While they failed to prevent the Obama administration from signing the nuclear deal — formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) — with Tehran, this partnership laid the foundation for future cooperation between the nations.
On January 16, 2010, history was made when Uzi Landau, Israel’s then-minister of national infrastructure, became the highest-ranking Knesset member ever to visit the UAE. But significant gaps still existed, evidenced by the UAE’s decision to reject Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe’er’s request for a visa to compete in the Dubai Tennis Championships. The tournament director, Salah Tahlik, suggested that the move was not anti-Israel, per say, but made out of concern that Pe’er’s participation would generate internal backlash.
Related Reading: The Iranian Regime’s Incitement to Destroy Israel
2012: Going Public For the First Time
The first public meeting between an Israeli prime minister and a UAE official took place in September 2012, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in New York with past UAE foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The two agreed to work behind the scenes to weaken the Iranian threat.
This led to continued contact between the leaders of the two counties on the Iranian issue; Israel opening an official diplomatic mission to the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi in 2015; and a meeting between Netanyahu and UAE leaders in Cyprus in 2016.
2016-2019: Joint Exercises and Judo
The first known military cooperation between the states took place in August 2016, when pilots from the UAE and Israeli air forces flew to Nevada to participate in a joint exercise along with pilots from Pakistan and Spain. Another joint exercise between the two countries’ air forces was conducted in Greece in 2017.
A high-profile sign of the evolving — and warming — bilateral relationship was demonstrated over the course of 2017-2018.
In 2016, Israeli Tal Flicker had won a gold medal in a judo championship in the UAE, but Israel’s national anthem was not played and the state’s flag was not raised to the rafters. But then, in 2018, the UAE hosted then-Israeli minister of culture and sport Miri Regev, and allowed the Israeli anthem to be played and the Israeli flag to be raised when Sagi Muki won a gold medal.
Moreover, Netanyahu met with the UAE and Bahraini ambassadors to Washington in 2018, where they discussed their shared interest in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and using its proxies to expand its influence across the Middle East.
In January 2019, the UAE allowed Israel’s sports channel to broadcast the AFC Asian Cup from the UAE. Then, in April, Israel was officially invited to participate in the Dubai Expo 2020 innovation fair (which has since been postponed to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic). A month later, teams from Israel and the UAE for the first time played a match against each other at the Netball Europe Open Challenge held at the National Sporting Center on the Isle of Man.
2020: The Shock Announcement
Prior to last Thursday’s announcement, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer had been working with his Emirati counterpart, Yousef Al Otaiba, to chart a path toward full normalization. Concurrently, Mossad spy agency chief Yossi Cohen had regularly been traveling to the UAE as the framework for the agreement took initial shape.
A major breakthrough could have been foreseen back in June. History was made when an Etihad Airlines flight landed at Ben Gurion Airport carrying medical supplies earmarked for the Palestinians. Israel then announced an agreement had been reached with the UAE to cooperate on handling COVID-19. This included a coronavirus-related deal between the Emirati Group 42 and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.
Related Reading Israel-Qatar Relations: Raising Questions of Trust
The discussions regarding normalization peaked when Al Otaiba proposed to recognize Israel if it abandoned immediate plans to apply sovereignty to parts of the West Bank. Netanyahu indicated that he was open to the idea, especially given the fact that some Israeli officials were not thrilled with some of the conditions upon which the US conditioned the annexation plan.
The White House then ramped up talks with UAE Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed and the Israeli and Emirati ambassadors in Washington. This led to Thursday’s conference call between US President Trump, the Crown Prince and Netanyahu that paved the way for the historic announcement, which will culminate in the coming weeks with a formal signing ceremony at the White House.
Until then, Israel and the UAE are already busy, holding talks regarding the opening of embassies, fostering commercial ties and allowing direct flights between the two countries.
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