More Than Two-Thirds of Arab-Israeli Trade Flows Through the UAE
The UAE accounted for more than two-thirds of the Arab countries’ trade volume with Israel during the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, disregarding the bloodshed of Palestinians and the widespread public anger resulting from it.
According to official data, the UAE’s trade volume with Israel surpasses the combined trade volume of all other Arab countries, reflecting Abu Dhabi’s strategic alliance with the occupying state.
The total trade exchange between Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel increased during the months of war compared to the pre-war period, reaching a trade volume of $4 billion with Israel.
Recent data on Arab-Israeli trade during the war indicates that Arab countries increased their exports, imports, or both with Israel during the war months that began on October 7, 2023.
This reveals that the economic relations of Arab countries normalizing ties with Israel remained unaffected by public outrage over continuing trade with Israel during the war, which witnessed horrific massacres committed against Palestinian civilians.
The data, published by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, covers the volume of exports and imports (excluding diamonds) between Israel and the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain, during the period from October 2023 to the end of August 2024.
The official Israeli statistics show that the value of Arab countries’ exports to Israel reached $2.897 billion during this period. Arab exports to Israel during the war months increased by $122 million compared to the same period in 2022-2023, which amounted to $2.771 billion.
As for Israel’s imports to Arab countries during the war months, they amounted to $1.104 billion, compared to $923.6 million in the same months of 2022-2023.
Thus, the total trade exchange (exports and imports excluding diamonds) between the normalizing Arab countries and Israel reached $4 billion during the months of the war on Gaza. In comparison, the trade exchange in the same months of 2022-2023 was $3.6 billion.
According to the Israeli data, the trade volume between the UAE and Israel (from October 2023 to the end of August 2024) amounted to $2.8 billion, the majority of which were UAE exports to Israel.
The value of UAE exports to Israel during the war reached $2.286 billion, an increase of $122 million compared to the same period in 2022-2023. The data shows that the UAE was the largest Arab exporter to Israel during the war.
October 2023, the first month of the war, recorded the lowest UAE export figure to Israel, amounting to $135.1 million. However, UAE exports increased as the war progressed, peaking in January 2024 at $252.1 million.
The UAE also led in terms of Israeli imports to Arab countries during the Gaza war, with Israeli imports to the UAE reaching $516.1 million. During the same months in 2022-2023, the value of imports was $645.5 million.
June 2024 recorded the highest value of Israeli imports to the UAE, amounting to $54.2 million.
An analysis of the data shows that the trade volume between the UAE and Israel during the Gaza war was the second-highest recorded between the two sides since the normalization of relations in 2020. The data further reveals the following trade figures over the years:
- 2020: $189.8 million
- 2021: $1.221 billion
- 2022: $2.527 billion
- 2023: $2.9 billion
- October 2023 to August 2024: $2.8 billion
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics does not specify the types of exports and imports exchanged between the UAE and Israel. However, their trade relations are governed by a free trade agreement signed in 2022, the first of its kind between an Arab country and Israel. This agreement stipulates “exemption from 96% of customs duties on all goods, either immediately or gradually.”
