On September 15, 2020, the Abraham Accords was signed between the Zionist regime on the one hand and the UAE and Bahrain on the other hand. Through this accord, the UAE established itself as the leader of the normalization movement in the region, since then it has encouraged Morocco to join, and then it has convinced Sudan to do so, and now it is trying to join Saudi Arabia as well. Now more than two years have passed since Abraham Accords. An accord through which the Zionist regime was able to achieve many goals and achievements, while only some economic benefits have been secured for the UAE. Despite the regime's repeated attacks on Gaza, as well as successive attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the failure to meet the country's demands, the UAE still claims that normalization is in the interest of the Palestinian cause.
- Economic
The economy is the first entry platform to achieve Abraham's accords. For this reason, the economic and commercial relations between the Zionist regime and the UAE have witnessed the greatest acceleration among the countries that want normalization. While initially, the amount of commercial and economic relations of the regime with all the Persian Gulf countries, including the UAE, was estimated to be around 1 billion dollars. Now alone, the annual bilateral trade between the UAE and the Zionist regime has reached 1 billion dollars at the end of 2021, excluding tourism and investment. The remarkable speed of these developments in the economic and commercial fields has caused some Arab countries to stand in the queue of this movement to get rid of diplomatic isolation and to respond to the insistence of the UAE for normalization.
- Political
Although the Abraham Accords are the most recent normalization accord, it is one of the fastest-growing accords due to the different goals it plans and pursues. The peace accord between Egypt and Israel, as well as Jordan, was the result of long wars, the outcomes of which are still ongoing, while the Abraham Accords are largely interest-based accords and they have achievements that can be achieved faster. The Abraham Accords have provided more benefits for the Zionist regime because, on the one hand, it has created a new momentum and the revival of normalization accords, and on the other hand, it has created a gap between the Arab and Islamic societies that none of the normalization accords before did not create before. Now, the bigger danger of this accord is building a country among the Arab countries of the region, welcoming and encouraging the normalization of relations with it, and completely marginalizing the Palestinian cause, not only in the sense of resistance, even with the Palestinian National Authority and building new generations that support the occupation and consider it natural in Palestinian lands.
Before the announcement of the normalization accord between the two countries, the United Arab Emirates announced that it had reached an accord with Israel to suspend the annexation of areas in the occupied West Bank, and the UAE and Bahrain announced in different statements that the decision to normalize relations with the Zionist regime for an increase in the chance of a two-state solution will follow, but what happened in reality was different from these claims. Israel continued to build settlements, furthering the Palestinian goal of an independent state.
- Security
Considering the numerous political and security conflicts of the UAE in the recent period and the increase in security concerns and requirements, this country is trying to normalize its relations to benefit from the technical and security superiority of the Zionist regime. Obtaining billions of dollars in weapons and looking for security alternatives to compensate for the possible retreat of America from the region are among the goals of the UAE in the normalization process. The Hebrew media, emphasizing an official document from the Hebrew government, have revealed that Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi's accord on normalization paves the way for increased levels of military cooperation between the two sides in the Red Sea, and Israeli arms companies are trying to increase their defense exports to the Gulf countries.
- Public opinion
Following various accords and cultural exchange and tourism after the Abraham Accords, the Zionist regime relatively succeeded in achieving a safe space in the Arab societies, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, whose normalization was difficult to accept. Despite many officials of the UAE government welcoming the process of normalizing relations with the Zionist regime, with the continuous attacks and abuses of the Zionist regime against the Palestinians and Al-Aqsa Mosque, some of these voices changed in support of this process and criticized the positions of the regime. Some polls also show an unfavorable view of Abraham Accords.
After more than two years have passed since the normalization accords between the UAE and the occupation regime of Jerusalem and the signing of many economic and security accords, it can be said that the peace accord known as the Abraham Accords are considered the most dangerous normalization accord in history because its aim is to directly integrate the Zionist regime into the Arab and Islamic societies and ignore the Palestinian issue in exchange for some interests. Despite the 511% jump in trade between the regime and the United Arab Emirates in 2021, normalization has seen a decrease in the acceptance of the people due to the frequent attacks of the Zionist regime on the Palestinians.
It is expected that the parties to the Abraham Accords will continue to develop relations, increase cooperation and remove obstacles in addition to security and information coordination in several cases, but pending cases will remain, which at the top of them is the cooperation under the umbrella of the regional alliance and some arms deals. But in the end, the UAE will try to continue the process of normalization and highlight the success resulting from it, a process whose various aspects, due to the marginalization of the Palestinian cause, have been more in favor of expanding the regime's influence in the region than securing the interests of the UAE.
Zeinab Chaldavi, an expert at the Institute for Political and International Studies
(The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IPIS)