For the United Arab Emirates, it’s business as usual as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s newly formed government wastes no time in implementing hardline policies aimed at forcing Palestinians to give up on the notion of an independent state and accept Israeli rule. The UAE made that clear as it welcomed an Israeli delegation to Abu Dhabi this week to discuss[Read More…]
The terrible secret about Faustian deals is that they need a Mephistopheles to nurture them. That said, Goethe’s Mephisto is very different from the crude devil of medieval legend. Goethe sketches him as a cultivated, witty, and cynical exponent of materialism and nihilism who preaches a sophisticated doctrine of philosophical negation. There is no way the Abraham Accords would have[Read More…]
Personality as well as the conflation of genuine national interest with personal ambition contribute to the widening gap between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It was only a matter of time before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would want to come out on his own and no longer be seen as the protégé of his erstwhile mentor[Read More…]
The Abraham Accord signed recently between Israel on the one hand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain on the other, is touted as a peace deal. They were not at war. There was peace between them and much behind the scenes cooperation, reportedly for the last decade. Reports have it that the Accord promises Israel millions of dollars[Read More…]
The United Arab Emirates may have the upper hand in its competition with Turkey in efforts to shape Palestinian politics. Similarly, the UAE’s recognition of the Jewish state gives it a leg up in ensuring that its voice is heard in Israel and Washington irrespective of who wins the November US election. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan didn’t miss a[Read More…]
A close read of the agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel suggests that the Jewish state has won far more than diplomatic recognition. It won acknowledgement of its claim to historic Jewish rights. By the same token, the UAE has received a significant boost to project itself as a leader in inter-faith dialogue. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu[Read More…]
An Emirati offer to invest in Israel’s most controversial soccer club could serve as a figurative litmus test of hopes that Arab recognition of the Jewish state may persuade it to be more empathetic towards Palestinian national aspirations. It was not immediately clear whether the offer was to acquire or co-invest in Beitar Jerusalem, notorious for its links to the[Read More…]
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said five or six more countries are ready to make peace with Israel, Times of Israel reported. However, he did not name those countries. Shortly before the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Trump said, “We’re very far down the road with about five additional countries… Frankly, I[Read More…]
Will the Saudis formalize relations with Israel or will they not? That is the 64,000-dollar question. The odds are that Saudi Arabia is not about to formalize relations with Israel. But the kingdom, its image tarnished by multiple missteps, is seeking to ensure that it is not perceived as the odd man out as smaller Gulf states establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.[Read More…]
On 19 August 2020, an article in Foreign Affairs argued that a “botched peace plan” in the Middle East accidentally produced the Abraham Accord between the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Israel and the US. On the surface, the Abraham Accord appears to be a ‘botched peace plan’. However, it is consistent with the goals of the Trump administration to forge[Read More…]
The UAE-Israel formalisation of ties on August 14, 2020 1, was a bang and Bahrain-Israel normalisation of ties declared on September 12, 2020 2 turned out to be a whimper. The reason is plain and obvious. It was very much on the expected lines as the sprawling presence in the backdrop of all these ‘deals’ is Kingdom of Saudi[Read More…]
I believe that for us Arabs to survive and progress we must have in common more than religion, language and rhetoric. We need unity, transparency and honesty. We Palestinians are teetering on the edge of a precipice. Until very recently, every Arab leader, politician, cleric and pundit, given half a chance, would mount the platform and raise the Palestinian flag[Read More…]
The United Arab Emirates’ establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel is damaging its efforts to garner religious soft power by projecting itself as a model of Islamic moderation and tolerance and a force for peace. The UAE move has sparked splits within a key group, created and nurtured by the Gulf state, to project its image as a moderate[Read More…]
The decision by the UAE to establish diplomatic relations with Israel keeps a negotiated solution with Palestine on life support. There is no indication that forging relations with Israel will be more successful in nudging the Jewish state towards peace with Palestine on mutually acceptable terms than the failed formula of offering Arab recognition in exchange for peace was. Like[Read More…]
In some ways, the U.S.-brokered plan for mutual recognition between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is big news. For more than a quarter of a century, only two Middle Eastern countries—Egypt and Jordan—had officially recognized Israel. None of the Gulf monarchies did. So, it was a pretty big deal when the announcement was made. Except, actually, not so much.[Read More…]
How many of us have had any clue about Socotra Island which had recently been in news ( on June 21, 2020) when it was reported 1 that Houthi rebels had taken over Socotra Island from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) backed Yemeni government. ‘Yemeni separatists have seized control of the island of Socotra in the Arabian Sea,[Read More…]
When US made UAE and Israel to normalise their bi-lateral relations, on August 14, 2020, within ten days when the flames of Beirut, Lebanon had not even got doused, the under-cut deal which was made was that US would sell its F-35 stealth fighter jets to UAE, and which, obviously, sent alarm bells in Tel Aviv and Israel PM Benjamin[Read More…]
Rare polling of public opinion in Saudi Arabia suggests that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may be more sensitive to domestic public opinion on foreign policy issues such as Palestine than he lets on. The polling also indicates that a substantial number of Saudis is empathetic to protest as a vehicle for political change. The poll conducted on behalf of[Read More…]
Even when the flames of the blasts of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon 1 on August 4, 2020, had not doused, where death and destruction, misfortune and misery has become the fate of Lebanese , that Arab states should have run to share the grief and started to investigate ‘who is responsible’ for the blasts, as Michel Aoun, the Lebanon[Read More…]
The improbable and unprecedented has happened. United Arab Emirates (UAE) has declared to normalise relations with the state of Israel on August 14, 2020 1 , after a phone-call between the trio- US president Donald Trump, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and UAE crown prince Zayed Al Nahyan sealed it through, sending shock waves throughout the world, apart from the general[Read More…]
On 14 August 2020 the Australian ABC radio and TV news announced that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had agreed to recognize Israel and exchange ambassadors with what the ABC described as “the Jewish State”. Not only was this descriptive false and anti-Arab anti-Semitic (Arabs are 50.3% of the Subjects of Apartheid Israel) it was also grossly anti-Jewish anti-Semitic (all[Read More…]
Co-Written by Medea Benjamin and Ariel Gold “HUGE breakthrough today,” crowed Donald Trump on twitter as he announced the new peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The deal makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state and the third Arab nation, after Egypt and Jordan, to have diplomatic ties with Israel. But the new Israel-UAE partnership[Read More…]
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My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
