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UAE Envoy Says Accord With Israel Salvages Arab Peace Plan

UAE Envoy Says Accord with Israel Salvages 2002 Arab Peace Plan

The United Arab Emirates’ deal to pursue formal ties with Israel helped to salvage a Saudi Arabian plan to make peace between the Jewish state and the Arab world in return for a Palestinian state, the UAE’s envoy to the United Nations said.

With the decision last week, the UAE appears headed to become the third Arab country to normalize relations with Israel, joining Egypt and Jordan and sending shock waves through a region in transformation.

“We have have preserved in many ways the viability of the Arab Peace Initiative by halting Israel’s annexation” plans, Lana Nusseibeh said in a phone in interview on Wednesday. Establishing relations with Israel “is not a frustration of the Arab Peace Initiative, it is a natural evolution of the reality in the region. I don’t think the two are contradictory.”

As part of the deal announced a week ago, Israel agreed to suspend controversial moves to annex portions of the West Bank, halting an undertaking that was widely seen as putting any final peace agreement with Palestinians further out of reach. No timeline was set by American or Israeli officials on how long the suspension is expected to hold. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that the pause was temporary.

“The key point to take away is the accord halts annexation, it creates the space for the Israelis and Palestinians to engage in meaningful negotiation,” Nusseibeh said. “We have managed to create a window of opportunity for negotiations, but the two parties who have to decide any peace agreement between Israeli and the Palestinians are the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Wednesday that his country remains committed to the peace initiative his country put forward in 2002, proposing normalized relations only after Israel withdraws from territories occupied in the 1967 war and claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.

Overt Cooperation

“You can have a firm commitment to the Palestinians’ right to a state along the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital and still create a relationship with Israel,” Nusseibeh said.

The UAE and Israel will continue creating new channels of communication and cooperate in a number of areas including the coronavirus, which has already started, she said. “It’s not a one-off event,” she said. “It’s clear that the process will result eventually, that’s what normalization means, in the exchange of ambassadors.”

Since last week’s announcement, the peace moves have gathered pace. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin invited the UAE’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, to visit Jerusalem. Israel’s technology minister on Monday predicted imminent collaboration with the Gulf Arab nation in cyber security and space research. The two countries’ top intelligence officials also met in Abu Dhabi.

Discussions will also start immediately to lay out the details related to commercial airspace and direct flights between the countries, the UN envoy said.

Advanced Fighters

Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot cited Emirati and American sources as saying a secret clause in the agreement would allow the UAE to buy F-35 fighter jets and advanced drones from the U.S., removing Israel’s opposition to such deals meant to maintain its military superiority in the region. Israel has already bought and deployed the fifth-generation fighter built by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Netanyahu denied agreeing to such a clause.

“Prior to this accord we have some longstanding procurement requests to provide for our security,” Nusseibeh said. “What the peace accord does, is address Israel security concerns about the UAE and UAE’s policy toward Israel. Any security component of our negotiation is an important part of achieving peace and security and stability in the region and we do have to finalize those security discussions.”

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.