Israeli and UAE teams will meet "to sign bilateral agreements regarding investment, tourism direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, culture, the environment, the establishment of reciprocal embassies, and other areas of mutual benefit."
This is exciting news, indeed. Israel, with its huge technology sector and UAE with its massive financial resources could together work to transform the Middle East.
The announcement alluded to future similar deals with other Arab countries. Likeliest would be Saudi Arabia, another oil-rich moderate state that already has informal back-channel relations with the Jewish state.
We shouldn't fool ourselves that this will bring peace in the region this year, but it will certainly put a kink in Iran's expansionist/destabilization efforts, and it will bolster the Trump Administration's prestige in the region, pushing other countries to "fall in line" as it were and support some kind of general framework for peace if not an outright full recognition of Israel's legitimacy.
This is exciting news, indeed. Israel, with its huge technology sector and UAE with its massive financial resources could together work to transform the Middle East.
The announcement alluded to future similar deals with other Arab countries. Likeliest would be Saudi Arabia, another oil-rich moderate state that already has informal back-channel relations with the Jewish state.
We shouldn't fool ourselves that this will bring peace in the region this year, but it will certainly put a kink in Iran's expansionist/destabilization efforts, and it will bolster the Trump Administration's prestige in the region, pushing other countries to "fall in line" as it were and support some kind of general framework for peace if not an outright full recognition of Israel's legitimacy.