Cymerman: The Arab League has found a common enemy with Israel

Journalist and Middle East correspondent Henrique Cymerman has offered a talk with international Spanish-speaking journalists to comment on the Abraham Agreements signed between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Israel last Monday at the White House.

The talk was introduced by Lior Haiat, spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before starting the dialogue, while the journalists were getting settled in the virtual platform, Haiat took the opportunity to celebrate the news of the agreement by assuring that the Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year" celebrated this weekend) is going to start with good news for Israel.

Cymerman began the conference by confessing that on Monday night he had a light discussion with the media he works for. None of them had understood the real importance of the Abraham Agreements. "Yesterday we witnessed a signing that announces great geopolitical changes for the future," the journalist announced.

This week saw the culmination of a process that had been going on for thirty years. The last Arab countries to normalise their relations with Israel were Jordan in 1994 and Egypt, which was the first in 1979 following the Camp David peace agreements. "Yesterday two lights went on at the end of the tunnel: one in Bahrain and one in the Emirates. According to the correspondent, Bahrain would not have been able to take this step without Saudi Arabia's permission.

The insinuation that Saudi Arabia is giving the go-ahead to states to take this historic step arouses the curiosity of the journalists attending the conference. Cymerman relates that on his last trips to the Saudi country in January last year he came across a different discourse.

"Before, the Arab League had the goal of taking Israel off the map. But now the Arab League countries and Israel have a common enemy: Iran and its proxies, the jihad and the Islamic state". With these statements he makes it very clear that the threat of the Islamic Republic is still present in the Middle East and the states are willing to cooperate to prevent a geopolitical imbalance of power.

The Abraham Agreements have not left the international community indifferent, as it is wondering what level this leaves of the Palestinian conflict. But the United Arab Emirates has stressed before the signing that it will not leave the Palestinians behind and that it continues to defend its position on the solution of the conflict with East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

These statements were made by the Emirates' minister of state and foreign affairs, Anwar Mohammed Gargash, before the signing of the document, in which there is no direct reference to the Middle East conflict, "the great absentees have been the Palestinians". 

While the agreements were being signed yesterday at the White House, rockets were raining down from Gaza to make Hamas' discontent felt. The correspondent warns that there are times when the opportunity to create peace must be seized: "Once talking to Mahmud Abas (Palestinian president) about the advantages of regional peace, he did not want to take the chance. In the near future, if new countries join the agreement, I hope the Palestinians will understand that they can talk to Israel again to bring peace to the area". 
 

Israel's strength, militarily, economically and technologically, "has brought the Arab League countries to their senses", says Cymerman. "Israel is now a start up nation and the Arab countries no longer want to compete but to share," several diplomatic sources from both countries have told the journalist.

In fact, these relations were already taking place. In 2017 Israel opened a renewable energy office in Abu Dhabi that became a diplomatic delegation. Cymerman comments that "they managed to bring 500 Israeli companies to the country, although they have not dared to acknowledge this publicly due to the previous international boycott". 

The secret began to be less discreet and everything pointed to relations being resumed; last August the publication of the "secret creation of the Israel-Gulf Chamber of Commerce" was also very much in evidence. 

Following the signing of the agreements, the Emirates and Bahrain have declared themselves to be delighted to work together with Israel to find a vaccine against the coronavirus. A summit between Israeli and Emirate media will take place very soon to address the most important challenges of the pandemic.

During the conference, the correspondent pointed to a generational ideological shift. Young Arabs are changing their view on Israel. "Social networks have changed the world we live in, Arab youth and women surprised us during the Arab Spring, the media are living a real revolution and this is influencing the youth".

As an example he spoke of the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who is 35 years old and is expected to replace his uncle soon: "Salman has understood that a large part of young people want to settle this conflict. When he becomes king there will be a great change and his figure will have a great influence on the Palestinians".

We are living a game of chairs and coalitions, but there is still a lot to do. The correspondent calls for patience, "we are still going to have to wait a few years until the new generation is installed".

The journalists in attendance did not want to miss the opportunity to ask Cymerman if he knows who will be the next Arab country to take the step. "The next country to normalise relations will be Oman, which has been normalising its discourse for a year now. Perhaps even before the US elections," the correspondent stated.

Sudan is another country that is waiting to sign the agreement, particularly with a view to being removed from the US list of "countries that support international terrorism". Other countries such as Morocco and Kuwait are waiting for the green light from Riyadh to take the step.

Cymerman comments that "Iran and Turkey are worried" as they are staying as enemies of this new coalition. In the last years, the armies of both countries are doing joint exercises, meetings of the Chiefs of Staff, exchange of information in the fight against terrorism and, moreover, Turkey supports Hamas.

On the other hand, "Qatar is dancing in all marriages", the journalist explains quickly. Between its relationship with Turkey, the Muslim Brothers and Netanyahu the international community does not know what to expect and prefers to follow in their footsteps at a cordial and prudent distance.

"There is currently a Cold War between Iran and its proxies (Hezbollah and Hamas) and Saudi Arabia and its followers", this is how he announced the new paradigm that is emerging in the Middle East. 

Iran maintains its small empire around the Hebrew country. "Soleimani was the great architect of this defence circle to suffocate and threaten Israel, but now they are suffering from a very large structural crisis that has weakened them," explains Cymerman.

The journalist encourages those present not to see peace as something binary: black or white. Rather, it is a continuum that moves us away from or towards war.
"With the coronavirus in the Middle East, we have put the conflicts we have at the top of our list. With these statements Cymerman tries to explain that it is not a question of territories or recognition: "this is like Noah's ark and we have to survive together in some way".

Whatever the pandemic affects Palestine or Iran also affects the neighbouring states, "this COVID-19 is a revolution that has just begun, we will see what the next chapters are".

To conclude, the journalist stressed a subject he had not touched upon: "do not expect Israel, Bahrain and the Emirates to agree on everything from now on, but at least they have understood that the important thing is dialogue". Cymerman encourages peace talks to spread like a pandemic and "infect everyone".

The Middle East region is turning its geostrategic and political interests upside down. September 2020 has become a key date and the Abraham Agreements have set a precedent for peace that seeks to stabilise the whole region.