The agreement announced Thursday, August 13, between Israel and the United Arab Emirates has been hailed as the start of a "new era" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Emirates become the third country to normalize its relations with the Hebrew state after Egypt (with the Camp David accords in 1978) and Jordan (in 1994).

An announcement variously received by the international community. Europe welcomes this agreement, especially France and the United Kingdom. On the contrary, the Palestinian Authority sees it as "a betrayal of Jerusalem and of the Palestinian cause", as do Turkey and Iran.

  • Complete normalization of relations

The joint statement from the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates speaks of a "complete normalization of relations" between the State of Israel and the Emirates.

It is also specified that "delegations (from both countries) will meet in the coming weeks to sign bilateral agreements concerning investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technologies, energy, health, culture, environment, establishment of reciprocal embassies or other fields (presenting) mutual benefits ".

"This agreement testifies to a new state of mind at the regional level", explains David Rigoulet-Roze, teacher and researcher at the French Institute of Strategic Analysis (IFAS) and editor-in-chief of the journal Orients Stratégiques (L ' Harmattan), contacted by France 24. "It is the concretization of links, more or less discreet relations in recent years, but increasingly deepened between Israel and the petromonarchies, whether there with the United Arab Emirates, or with Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. "

  • "Low-key" relations between Israel and the Emirates before the deal

If this agreement may seem surprising, especially given the positions of Israel and the Emirates on the Palestinian cause, the two countries have worked behind the scenes for this rapprochement. "It was a discreet diplomacy job, because we had not seen this normalization agreement between the two countries coming", explains Armelle Charrier, international columnist at France 24.

But this work has not been started recently, as David Rigoulet-Roze explains: "Discreet relations have been forged in recent years with the petromonarchies in general and the United Arab Emirates in particular, particularly in the face of what is perceived like an Iranian threat. "

A low-key relationship that the Emirates have, however, made increasingly visible in their rapprochement with Israel. “At the end of 2018, two Israeli ministers - Ayoub Kara, Minister of Telecommunications and Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sports - made a trip to Abu Dhabi which, beyond their perimeter of competence, obviously had a political dimension. this is added on May 20 the first direct flight of the Emirati company Etihad from Abu Dhabi to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, intended to provide medical aid to Palestinians in the context of the Covid pandemic ", specifies the teacher-researcher at IFAS. "It is the skill of Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, who wants this rapprochement with Israel without being accused of abandoning the Palestinian cause and who tries to show the maintenance to this cause, even if concretely there are underlying contradictions. This theft was to show that the petromonarchy did not forget the Palestinians even if there was otherwise the deepening relations with Israel. "

  • "Fuzzy" around the question of annexations in the West Bank

After the announcement of the agreement Thursday, one point, and not the least, remains unresolved: the Israeli plan to annex Palestinian territories in the West Bank. Interpretations differ on this subject.

In the eyes of the Emirates, in exchange for this agreement, Israel agreed to "put an end to the continued annexation of the Palestinian territories". But Benjamin Netanyahu tempered this statement, believing that this annexation is "postponed" but that Israel "has not given up". "I brought peace, I will achieve annexation," he even proclaimed.

"There is a form of agreement on elements of language when speaking of a 'temporary pause' concerning this annexation initially scheduled for July 1 and which was not effective," explains David Rigoulet-Roze. "There is a certain vagueness that remains, of which the language elements are a reflection. The expression 'temporary pause' ultimately suits both parties since it allows them to maintain their position without deciding definitively, whether it be Benjamin Netanyahu who says it is a postponement and not a cancellation, or that it is Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan who explains in a tweet that the agreement implies that there will be no news annexation."

  • Trump "has been running behind this deal for a long time"

Donald Trump, who had the primacy of the announcement of this merger, will also benefit from it. "He is speaking in a presidential campaign and he has an interest in showing good results," explains France 24 columnist Armelle Charrier. Besides that, the American president "has been running behind this agreement for a long time", according to David Rigoulet-Roze: "On January 28, he presented the famous 'deal of the century' supposed to be a peace project between Israelis and Palestinians. Three ambassadors from the Gulf were then present: there were the Emirates, Bahrain and Oman. The Israel-Emirates agreement has an all the more important interest: within the framework of its re-election strategy, as it is in great difficulty on the scene interior - with the failure of the management of the Covid-19 pandemic and a terrible economic situation - it would be a way of consolidating its electoral base, made up of the hard core Christian evangelist who maintains a very close relationship with Israel. "

Finally, this agreement is beneficial in several ways for Israel, whether domestically or regionally. Riccardo Bocco, professor of political sociology invited to France 24 Thursday evening, explains that this rapprochement with the Emirates takes place in a context where "the Prime Minister has never been so contested by his own electoral base and by the Israeli middle class" . This agreement, moreover, will benefit him on "the international strategic level, namely his fight against Iran", according to the specialist. “The alliance with the Emirates is (from this point of view) extremely important, which is also in the interest of the United States. It is a redeployment of the cards in the Arab world, and in particular in the Gulf. "

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