September 27, 2020 | The National Interest
UAE-Israel Treaty Is Far Larger Step Towards Peace Than Critics Allege
No deal is perfect, but any improvement should not be downplayed when it makes the volatile Middle East more peaceful and win-win.
September 27, 2020 | The National Interest
UAE-Israel Treaty Is Far Larger Step Towards Peace Than Critics Allege
No deal is perfect, but any improvement should not be downplayed when it makes the volatile Middle East more peaceful and win-win.
Criticism of Israel’s treaty with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been relentless. The New York Times’ Roger Cohen calls it “Trump’s Middle Eastern Mirage” and “something rotten.” A Washington Post oped calls it “a big step – in the wrong direction.” Reporting by Bloomberg describes the deal as “thin.” Middle East analyst Daniel Levy writes that the agreement is merely “the codification of an existing reality” which does “nothing by way of advancing peace in any arena.” They are wrong.
The “Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel” is a robust, legally binding peace treaty that represents a strategic pivot by the UAE. The UAE-Israel Peace Treaty commits the two countries to a relationship far warmer—and with far more intensive cooperation in economic, scientific, and social fields—than the cold peace Israel has with Egypt and Jordan (outside the security field).
The UAE’s pivot will facilitate peace between Israel and the Palestinians by showing that Arab governments and their citizens benefit more by partnering with Israel than by seeking to isolate or dismantle it. In addition, by demonstrating lost Arab League support for maximalist positions, the treaty will hopefully encourage the Palestinians to adjust their demands and accept a compromise two-state solution such as those which they rejected in the Olmert Plan of 2008 and the Clinton Plan of 2000.
In the treaty, the UAE departs in several ways from its past adherence to Arab League positions regarding Israel. Until August 29, the UAE formally participated in the League’s efforts to strangle Israel economically (through primary boycotts), of American and other firms that do business with Israel through (secondary boycotts), and of U.S. and other firms that do business with Israel (tertiary boycotts).
The UAE was included as recently as July on the U.S. Treasury’s list of countries requiring cooperation with an international boycott. Although the UAE announced in 1996 that it would enforce only the primary boycott, U.S. firms had as of August 2020 reportedly “continued to receive . . . secondary and tertiary boycott requests from the UAE.”