Israeli celebration of the accelerated public normalization with the UAE
Media reports and security reports in Israel are rapidly accelerating the progress and prosperity of normalization with the UAE amid widespread celebration of the threats it carries out to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
Israeli analyst Eddie Cohen said in a television interview that “this era of public normalization with the UAE, has always been in the normalization behind the scenes, now everything is exposed.”
Cohen denied that it was Israel that infiltrated the Arab countries, adding: “Arab countries (especially the UAE) did so.”
“It is the UAE that opens synagogues, and it has relations with American Jews to flatter toward Israel, the West and the United States,” he said.
This comes days after an Israeli newspaper announced that the UAE would allow Israelis to enter its territory during the organization of the International Expo 2020.
“As the official host of next year’s World Expo, the Gulf state is expected to open its doors to Israeli tourists in 2020,” the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
“The Expo 2020 will hold a pavilion in which Israel will present its latest achievements in innovation,” the newspaper said.
It quoted an unnamed source in the Expo management team that “the Israeli and UAE authorities have been in talks for some time, to allow those with Israeli passports to attend the exhibition in Dubai.”
“These talks are going on because both sides want to see the exhibition become the world’s largest. The UAE has invested huge amounts of money and thought about the event, and wants to welcome the Israelis as well,” the source said.
Mohammed Khater, assistant director of tourism in Ras Al Khaimah, was quoted as saying: “I think the Israelis will come to visit even after the exhibition. Now a few Israelis visit us and we will be happy to accommodate all Israeli tourists.”
Although Israel and the UAE do not have formal diplomatic relations, the two countries have economic ties and Israelis are allowed to enter the country if they hold a non-Israeli foreign passport or use a special visa.
Last year, the UAE officially recognized its small Jewish community as part of Dubai’s population.
The newspaper quoted a US source linked to the UAE authorities as saying that the state is expected to make the entry process much easier for those with Israeli passports.
Later, an Israeli political source confirmed the existence of advanced contacts between Israel and the UAE, allowing Israelis to visit the UAE starting in October 2020, with the opening of the International Expo.
For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while receiving students who participated in the World Robot Olympics in Dubai, said that their visit to Dubai “was not a coincidence, but reflects what is above the water surface,” adding that “there are currents underwater.”
Netanyahu said Israel had established relations with many countries “because of the technology and capabilities against a common enemy,” an explicit reference to the spy devices Israel sold to the UAE years ago.
Hebrew newspapers wrote that Israel and the UAE have been cooperating for a long time in the fields of technology, intelligence and cyber.
The newspaper also pointed to the presence of an Israeli representative in Abu Dhabi, working within the United Nations Renewable Energy Agency, and it is not excluded that allowing the entry of Israeli tourists to develop relations between the parties, including raising the level of diplomatic representation.
The newspaper also wrote that “the UAE is waiting for the arrival of Israeli tourists, and posts in social networks tweets welcoming their arrival.”
In March, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash publicly called for accelerating the pace of normalization between Arab countries and Israel, saying that would help to reach a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In remarks published by the Abu Dhabi-based National newspaper, unusually frank, Gargash said the decision by many Arab states not to engage Israel has complicated efforts to find a solution for decades.
“For several years, an Arab decision was made not to communicate with Israel, but looking back, it was a very wrong decision,” he said. “Because, of course, you should distinguish between having a political issue and keeping lines of communication open.”
For the UAE minister, there is a need for what he called a “strategic shift” in the relationship between the Arab world and Israel, saying that this shift requires progress in terms of peace.
He said that dialogue with Israel is currently on the sidelines, but that this will change, and he expected to increase communication between Arab countries and Israel through small bilateral agreements and visits by politicians and sports delegations.
According to Gargash, failure to take bolder steps toward normalization with Israel will make it harder to achieve Palestinian demands for an independent state.
“If we continue with the current approach, I think the dialogue in 15 years will be about equal rights in one state,” he said, referring to the possibility of Israeli-Palestinian integration rather than a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The UAE minister also said that “a two-state solution will not be feasible because the existence of a decayed (Palestinian) state will not be feasible.”
