Israel is on course to establish diplomatic relations with “several Arab countries,” according to the top envoy for the United Arab Emirates.
“I think the UAE is not the only country here,” UAE foreign minister Anwar Gargash told the Atlantic Council Thursday while discussing his country’s recent agreement with Israel. “There are several Arab countries that are on this scale in different stages.”
That prediction aligns with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s stated hope that the deal unveiled last week “will be the first in a series of agreements” between the Jewish state and Arab neighbors. Israel and the Gulf countries have improved informal relations in recent years in light of their common perception of Iranian threats, but the Arab nations traditionally have identified ties with Israel as the reward for a “comprehensive peace agreement” between the Jewish state and the Palestinians.
“Saudi Arabia remains committed to peace as a strategic option based on the Arab Peace Plan and relevant international resolutions enabling the Palestinian people to establish their own state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al Saud said Wednesday.
Still, the Saudi official condoned the UAE pact, which involved a public pledge that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would “suspend” his plan to assert Israeli sovereignty over territory that observers regard as a likely part of a prospective Palestinian state.
“Any efforts that result in holding back the threat of annexation could be viewed as positive,” he said, Faisal said.
Speculation about which countries might follow suit has centered on Bahrain, the Gulf island nation that hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
“I think that Bahrain and Oman are definitely on the agenda,” Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said this week. “In addition, in my assessment, there is a chance that already in the coming year there will be a peace deal with additional countries in Africa, chief among them, Sudan.”
Gargash noted that the regional response to the agreement fell out along predictable lines, with criticism coming from the Palestinians and countries such as Iran and Turkey that already have fraught relations with the Gulf states. “We took a risk, and we were criticized by the same group or grouping more or less of countries that are critical of what the UAE does and is doing,” Gargash said. “We cannot be also prisoners of rhetoric, very high rhetoric, and at the same time, stagnation and inaction on the Palestinian issue.”
