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Israel’s relations with several Arab countries have evolved in a short time since last August, when the United Arab Emirates announced a “historic peace deal” with Tel Aviv under American auspices. What are the most important of these diplomatic developments?
become Morocco is fourth Arab country to normalize relations with IsraelAfter US President Donald Trump announced the issue on Thursday, and Rabat’s confirmation shortly thereafter, “the resumption of diplomatic relations as soon as possible” with the Jewish state.
Here are the most significant developments since the August announcement of the normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
“Big breakthrough”
On August 13, US President Donald Trump announced a “historic peace agreement” between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. “This is a huge step forward! A historic peace deal between our two great friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates,” Trump tweeted.
They included a joint statement by the United States of America, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which spoke of an agreement “to conduct full bilateral relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.”
Read more: A special article on France 24 on the implications of the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel
The UAE confirmed that the agreement provided for “an end to Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that the annexation was only “postponed”. The Palestinians called the deal a “betrayal”.
Joe Biden, who was still a candidate for the American presidency and who will enter the White House in January, welcomed a “historic” agreement.
First direct flight
On August 29, the United Arab Emirates repealed the boycott of Israeli law. On August 31, the first commercial flight between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, which took off from Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, landed in Abu Dhabi with an Israeli-American delegation headed by the son-in-law and adviser to the US president Jared Kushner.
On September 2, Saudi Arabia agreed to allow Israeli flights through its airspace.
Standardization with Bahrain
On September 11, Trump announced that “our two great friends, Israel and Bahrain, have reached a peace agreement.”
In a joint statement between the United States, Israel and Bahrain, the three countries announced the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain. Trump described the development as “truly historic.” Netanyahu hailed “another peace deal with another Arab country.” The Palestinian Authority and Hamas condemned this statement.
On September 14, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said of the signing of the two agreements the next day in Washington: “This day will be added to the calendar of Palestinian pain and the toll of Arab failures.”
On September 15, hours before the signing of the two agreements at the White House, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid claimed that Netanyahu had “no intention” of holding peace talks with the Palestinians.
Discussions with Lebanon
On October 14, unprecedented negotiations on the demarcation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel took place on October 14, with American mediation, two neighboring countries still officially at war.
The fourth round of talks, scheduled for December 2, was postponed at the request of US mediators, according to a Lebanese military source.
Israel and Bahrain officially sign agreement
On October 18, Israel and Bahrain signed an agreement in Manama establishing full diplomatic relations between the two countries and seven memorandums of understanding.
On the twentieth of the same month, Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to exempt citizens of the two countries from travel visas, to an unprecedented extent announced during the visit of an official Emirati delegation to Israel.
Normalization with Sudan
On October 23, Trump announced the normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan, claiming that the two countries had reached “peace.”
He said at least five other Arab countries wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
On the 24th of the same month, Netanyahu estimated that the normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan ended the geographical isolation the Jewish state suffered, shortened the duration of flights and reduced their costs. “We are changing the map of the Middle East,” he said.
Netanyahu is in Saudi Arabia
On November 23, identical sources reported that Netanyahu had made an unprecedented visit to Saudi Arabia and had secret talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan denied on Twitter that any meeting had taken place between the crown prince and the Israeli prime minister.
Standardization with Morocco
On January 10, Trump announced that Morocco is committed to normalizing relations with Israel and that the United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the contested Western Sahara.
King Mohammed VI of Morocco confirmed the issue, calling Washington’s decision on Western Sahara a “historic position”. Netanyahu also hailed a “historic” deal with Morocco, noting that “direct flights” would soon take place between the two countries.
The Moroccan monarch spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and stressed that the normalization measures “in no way affect Morocco’s permanent and sustained commitment to defend the just Palestinian cause”.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) considered the decision to normalize relations between Morocco and Israel a “political sin”.
France 24 / AFP
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