The United Arab Emirates became the first Gulf country to sign peace agreement with Israel recently. The Agreement is also called Abraham Accord. Israel is the third Arab country after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994) to sign the peace agreement.
Highlights
The name Abraham has been provided to honour three major Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The deal has stopped Israel annexation of West Bank. The West Bank is sandwiched between Israel and Jordan. According to the agreement, Israel and UAE will sign agreements in coming weeks on direct flights, telecommunications, tourism, energy, security and health care. Also, the countries are to fight COVID-19 together.
Significance
The deal was announced at the US White House. Both UAE and Israel are close allies of the United States. The deal now strengthens opposition to Iran. Iran is the main threat in the region according to all the three powers US, Israel and UAE.
What is the issue?
The West Bank was captured by Jordan at the end of Arab-Israeli war. Later in 1967, Israel again snatched it back in 1967. During the 1967, Israel was defeated by the combined forces of Syria, Egypt and Jordan.
Background
The deal now halts the annexation of West Bank by Israel.
Palestine
The Palestinians reject and denounces the deal. They seek for a two-state solution. The deal would make implementation of Two State Solution more challenging.
Two State Solution
It is based on UN resolution of 1947 that proposed two states. One is where the Jews constituted the majority and the other is where the Palestinian Arabs constituted the majority population.
Hamas
Hamas, according to the United States is an Islamist militant group that runs the Gaza Strip. The group views the deal as “stabbing in the back by UAE”.
Geopolitics in the region
The agreement will now bring all the Sunni nations in an anti-Iran alliance with Israel. The allies of Iran in the region include Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The Hezbollah in Lebanon are backed by Iran and so are the Houthis in Yemen.