Only Jordan and Egypt have relations with Tel Aviv, but they are not the only states that have shown interest in re-establishing relations

The Arab League countries in view of the Israel-Emirates agreement

photo_camera PHOTO/AFP - Archival photo, Arab foreign ministers participate in their 153rd annual session at the headquarters of the Arab League in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on 4 March 2020

Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic cooperation agreement, called the 'Abraham Agreement', which will normalize diplomatic relations between the Jewish state and the Gulf nation. An agreement, in which the United States has played a fundamental role in the negotiation, which has meant an advance in the path of recognition between Arab countries and Tel Aviv.

"A historic peace agreement between our two BIG friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates," U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Twitter account. The New York tycoon is targeting a major diplomatic victory ahead of the November election, in which, according to the latest polls, he is 12 points behind his rival, Democrat Joe Biden.

In a joint statement from Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv and Washington he welcomed "the breakthrough" that will bring "peace in the Middle East region". As part of this agreement, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to suspend the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. The Israeli Prime Minister later qualified this point and told journalists that this annexation had only been "delayed" but that the plans were still on the table.

This is not a peace agreement like those signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979 or with Jordan in 1994, these two countries had strong warlike confrontations, but rather the beginning of the roadmap marked by Washington to normalize ties between a Gulf State, with which Israel already had intelligence and arms exchange contacts.

El primer ministro de Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, anuncia que se establecerán plenas relaciones diplomáticas con Emiratos Árabes Unidos, durante una conferencia de prensa el jueves 13 de agosto de 2020, en Jerusalén

Reactions to this agreement were swift. The United Nations, through the spokesman of the secretary general, António Guterres, said that the normalization of relations between the two states could help achieve a solution with the Palestinians: "The secretary general welcomes this agreement, hoping that it will create an opportunity for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to re-engage in meaningful negotiations that will realize a two-state solution in accordance with relevant U.N. resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements," the spokesman added in a statement.

The pact between the two countries has been seen as a cold water bottle for Palestinian authorities. "The Palestinian leadership rejects and denounces the surprising trilateral announcement by the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the United States," announced Nabil Abu Rudeineh, senior adviser to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

Abu Rudeineh called the agreement "a betrayal of Jerusalem, Al- Aqsa and the Palestinian cause.

The Palestinian Authority immediately called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League, but in recent days several states that make up the organization have applauded the pact.

The Arab League, which was born in the same year as the United Nations, in 1945, was intended to be the organization that would unite, coordinate and mediate among Arab countries, in an area that was particularly sensitive to geopolitical and interest struggles.

The organization was born in the light of the pan-Arabist ideology, a kind of nationalism that seeks the political unity of the Arab states. 

It was above all the Israeli conflict that led to the union of the Arab states. Zionism and the Jewish invasion of Palestine united Arab sentiment in the face of a common struggle: Palestinian liberation from Jewish interference.

The countries that make up the Arab League are 17: UAE, Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia. Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Comoros, Syria, Libya, Mauritania, Somalia, Algeria and Jordan. Although most of these countries do not recognize Israel, these have been their reactions to the pact that opens a new path in the Middle East:

Donald Trump anuncia un acuerdo entre Emiratos Árabes Unidos e Israel para normalizar las relaciones diplomáticas, la Casa Blanca, el 13 de agosto de 2020
Egypt and Jordan, UAE's allies

Both states had already maintained relations with Israel since, first Cairo and then Amman, signed peace agreements. In 1979, Egypt became the first country in the region to sign a peace agreement with the Hebrew country. As part of this agreement, Israel agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula, which it occupied in 1967.

Jordan signed the deal in 1994 and focused on economic and commercial interests. According to Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, the agreement will be able to move the stalled peace negotiations forward if the UAE succeeds in putting pressure on Israel to accept a Palestinian state. "If Israel uses it as an incentive to end the occupation, it will move the region towards a just peace," he said in a statement.

The good relations between Cairo and Abu Dhabi were shown in the message that Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, posted on his Twitter account after learning of the agreement: "I followed with interest and appreciation the joint statement between the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Israel to stop the Israeli annexation of Palestinian land and take steps to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Las fuerzas de seguridad israelíes se reúnen mientras los palestinos protestan contra la decisión de Emiratos Árabes Unidos de normalizar los vínculos con Israel, en la aldea de Turmus Aya, cerca de la ciudad ocupada de Ramallah en la Ribera Occidental, el 19 de agosto de 2020
The Persian Gulf

The small state of Bahrain, close to Saudi Arabia, welcomed the agreement, the state news agency BNA learned. The opening of travel and trade between the UAE and Israel will allow a large flow of travellers, which Oman would also welcome.

For its part, Kuwait has declared that its relationship with Israel will remain "unchanged" after the agreements and, according to sources in the Kuwaiti Government, they have assured that they would be the last to recognize Israel, according to information from the newspaper Al-Qabas.

Qatar has also had good relations with Israel since the 1990s. This took place after the Gulf War in 1991, where Israel, the US and Qatar formed a kind of triangle.

North Africa

Although none of the countries of the Arab League for North Africa have formal peace agreements with Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania have all maintained relatively stable relations. For example, Israelis can travel to Marrakech or Tunisia with an Israeli passport. For its part, Algeria seems far from any normalization with Tel Aviv.

For Libya, which is divided into two factions and is in the throes of a civil war, it is not in its plans, for the moment, to formalize relations with Israel. 

Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Yemen

Neither Damascus, Baghdad, Khartoum nor Sana'a have diplomatic ties with Israel. Syria and Israel have fought several wars in the area. Israel, in 1967, annexed the Golan Heights after occupying them, while Syria illegally held them in its grip.

Although Iraq and Israel have not had any ties, the presence of the Kurds, great enemies of the Israelis, in the north of Iraq - in the region of Kurdistan - has made both countries maintain policies of cooperation for the exchange of intelligence and have developed silent alliances of convenience.

For their part, Sudan and Yemen, in the midst of major crises, have shown interest in moving closer to Israel. Sudan's proximity to Egypt and the meeting between Netanyahu and the president of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, unleashed a storm in Khartoum and was understood as a form of "normalisation of ties between the countries". This meeting was orchestrated by the UAE, with the aim of getting Sudan to find Tel Aviv's support to get off Washington's list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

The same role has been played by Yemeni leader Hani Bin Breik who, also supported by Abu Dhabi, has shown interest in visiting Tel Aviv.

There is no doubt that the agreement has shaken up the geostrategic board that makes up the Middle East and that the new alliances that may be formed will draw a new map.

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