Israel-UAE-US deal

Why in news?

Israel and the United Arab Emirates, helped by the US, have arrived at an important peace agreement.

What is the big deal?

The deal was announced by the US White House.
The deal says that the UAE will establish diplomatic relations with Israel if its President commits to give up the plan to annex the West Bank.
[West Bank is the main territory of a state that the Palestinians want.]
The UAE becomes the third Arab nation to recognise Israel after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994).
It has the potential to change the geopolitics of West Asia and beyond.

What about the Palestinians?

The Palestinian leadership rejects and denounces the UAE, Israeli and the US trilateral announcement.
The Palestinian Authority, which seeks a two-state solution, lashed out against the deal as a betrayal by the UAE.
For the Palestinians, the Israeli commitment that it will not pursue its plan to annex the West Bank is an empty concession.
This is because the deal does not address the Palestinian demand for statehood.
President Binyamin Netanyahu floated the annexation plan recently.
It says Israel will claim sovereignty of all land in the West Bank on which Jewish settlements have come up.
This plan would literally cut up the dream of a Palestinian state.
It was not certain if Netanyahu would have gone ahead with it even without the UAE deal.
Now, by agreeing not to, he has enabled the UAE to talk it up to its Arab allies as a major concession extracted from Israel.
Netanyahu himself can project it elsewhere abroad as a big give on his part, without compromising on the core issues of the conflict.

How have the Arab states reacted?

Saudi Arabia has said nothing so far.
But, the ruling family’s Prince Turki al-Faisal had rejected the proposals for Israel-Palestine peace unveiled by the US in January 2020.
But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) has been hailed as an ally by the Trump administration.
He has formed a friendship with Trump’s son-in-law, tasked with finding a solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
There is bound to be speculation that the UAE could not have taken its decision on Israel without the support of Saudis.
Over the years, the Saudis have seen both the US and Israel as insurance against Shia Iran.
The smaller Gulf States of Oman and Bahrain have quickly fallen in line behind UAE.
It could be a matter of time before the others, including Saudi, do as well.

How does the region’s geopolitics change?

If the Arab states do fall in line, it would bring all Sunni nations in the region in an anti-Iran alliance with Israel.
Iran and its proxies and allies have been weakened and broken by war, the ISIS and al-Qaeda.
[Iran’s allies - Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen]
Hezbollah, which Israel has treated as enemy, faces a domestic backlash after an explosion in Beirut.
Russia, a staunch ally of Syria, has not yet reacted.
The deal will send ripples through other parts of the world.
In South Asia, it will put Pakistan in a bind.
Pakistan is already facing criticism at home for not being able to take on India over its 2019 decisions in Kashmir.
Pakistan is unlikely to be seen as joining an Arab alliance that has abandoned another cause dear to Pakistan, that of Palestine.
But then, UAE is a good friend.
Pakistan has already annoyed Saudi Arabia by not agreeing to hold a special session on Kashmir at the OIC.
Even if Pakistan does not join the Arab stampede towards Israel, it cannot rail against them for it.

Source: The Indian Express