So what! I meant this in response to what the Palestinian people no liking it.
You know this agreement involves the West Bank and its Palestinians, right?
Yes, but they are not players in this agreement.
What, they don’t get to hate something that would have an effect on the their people because they’re not directly involved?
What the Palestinians refuse to realize that inasmuch as Israel listens to anyone, it listens to its friends, not its enemies. The UAE is in a much better position to influence Israel in their favor from inside a diplomatic relationship.
As I understand it, the treaty is to block out Iran. Hamas and Hezballah at are backed by Iran , UAE, Saudi, Qatar HATE Iran. It’s in their best interest to keep Iran isolated. And not get a foothold in an area next to Israel.
I lived in the UAE from 1999-2003 and visited it (work-related) up to 2012. Geography is important here. Israel is nearly 1,200 miles away from the UAE and has been mentioned above, hasn’t been involved in any of the conflicts between the Arab States and Israel (heck, the UAE began within most of our lifetimes (1971). Meanwhile Iran is less than 60 miles away and holds several strategic islands (Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs) that are claimed by UAE (a couple conference rooms I’ve been in were named for those islands).
Militarily, UAE is well-armed (Apache helicopters, Abrams tanks, F16 and Mirage fighters) but with a population of about 900,000 citizens (there are nearly 10,000,000 residents, most of them ‘guest’ or contracted workers. So well-armed or not, they cannot take losses as other countries (Iran) could.
When I was there, several English-language papers were around (the Gulf News was my daily read) and while they generally condemned Israeli actions (the reports always said “Occupied Jerusalem”), I can’t remember any organized protests (and if there were, they were closely monitored by the Government) and there was no great Anti-Israel propoganda that I could see (albeit there might have been in Arabic) . The Palestinians had an embassy (not that far from the old US compound), but it was small and poor-looking, so they weren’t being floated by the UAE.
So peace between these two developed nations who share a common foe (Iran) is not all that unusual in my humble opinion. What does interest me is that (1) There are Seven Emirates, all with their own Emirs, and given the Arabs’ tend to want unanimity in decisions like this, I really would be interested in those discussions. And (2) the UAE is a member of the Gulf Coordination Council (GCC), albeit it is now called The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf. Those states are Bahrain,Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. And you can bet your last dirham UAE discussed this with their partners. And I would really, really be interested in those discussion.
But the big prize is Saudi Arabia. If the Sauds (even third-hand) gave their approval (or at least did not disapprove it), that could be a potential big thing. Because Saudi airspace and avoidance of same has been the main reason Israel has never attacked the Iranian nuclear program. If down the road the Saudis allow them access, and UAE provides a stopping point…
Hamas/Hezbollah/etc. will vehemently oppose this. And Iran’s actions will probably not be direct, but like I said, they’re 60 miles away and you can get into UAE fairly easily (we were told never to pickup hitchhikers on the Abu-Dhabi-Dubai road, since we were only 1-2 miles from the coast). Up until now UAE has been very peaceful, either through their security forces (and never forget, they are a monarchy, and a pretty absolute one at that) or, as have been whispered about, a good amount of “assistance” (read:bribes) has been provided to non-state actors as long as they didn’t cause trouble in the Emirates. What happens now…well, your guess is as good as mine.
Sorry for being so long and rambling, but having lived there and being somewhat invested in their defense (which I had a small part in), I just wanted to give folks, many who have never heard of the UAE (maybe they know about Dubai) something to chew on.
Press on.
Thanks for making sense of these announcements. Posts like yours are a major reason I love the SDMB - personal observations from people who are in the know. Now if someone asks me what I think about it, I can have a decent response.
Seconded - thanks, SSR.
The pro-Israel friend I mentioned before also thinks this has largely been done with a stinkeye directed by both countries towards Iran.
Don’t you dare apologize for the length of your in-depth post. It’s fantastic to hear from someone who’s actually been there.
Thanks for your perspectives.
Bahrain, Egypt, and Oman are interested. Good news!
It probably wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t already broad agreement. I’m sure the Saudis said yes in private.
Just a quick note; here is something else that might have helped broker the deal: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/politics/kushner-uae-israel-f-35-fighter-jet/index.html
To be brief, the UAE is interested in buying F-35’s, has been for 6 years. Now, in the wake of the UAE-Isreal agreement, the UAE is:
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Emirati military was given a classified briefing by administration officials on the F-35 fighter jet in recent weeks.
Now the US Military doesn’t like to share classified information on weapon systems, even with our best buddies. To get a classified briefing takes some time and clout. And yes, Israel has (or will shortly have) F-35’s.
We’ll see if the deal gets done. Don’t be surprised if it happens, even if Biden is elected. Because profit.
Press on.
The Saudi let an Israeli plane fly through their airspace to the UAE. That’s big.
They also started regular flights from Tel Aviv to Saudi and stopped any efforts at sanctions, which is also significant.
Looks like Bahrain’s in.
I’ve heard they are starting multiple regular flights between Saudi and Israel.
It was alluded that Saudi Arabia was thinking about it. The Serbia Kosovo thing is good too!
Regardless of what you think of Trump., this agreement is a good thing! More Arab countries are signing on.