Top aides to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fly to the United Arab Emirates on Monday to put final touches on a pact establishing open relations between the Gulf power and Israel.
Even before discussions start in Abu Dhabi, the delegates will have made aviation history by taking an Israeli commercial airliner directly from Tel Aviv to the UAE capital over Saudi territory.
Announced on Aug. 13, the ‘normalisation’ deal is the first such accommodation between an Arab country and Israel in more than 20 years and was catalysed largely by shared fears of Iran.
Palestinians were dismayed by the UAE’s move, worried that it would weaken a long-standing pan-Arab position that called for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory – and acceptance of Palestinian statehood – in return for normal relations with Arab countries.
Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and national security adviser Robert O’Brien head the U.S. delegation. The Israeli team is led by O’Brien’s counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat. Officials will explore bilateral cooperation in areas such as commerce and tourism, and Israeli defence envoys are due to visit the UAE separately.
Israeli officials hope the two-day trip will produce a date for a Washington signing ceremony, perhaps as early as September, between Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
That could give Trump a foreign policy boost ahead of his re-election bid in November. In Jerusalem on Sunday, Kushner said the deal was a “giant step forward.”
The Trump administration has tried to coax other Sunni Arab countries concerned about Iran to engage with Israel. The most powerful of those, Saudi Arabia, has signalled it is not ready.
But in what could presage a more relaxed posture by Riyadh, the El Al plane on Monday will be allowed to overfly Saudi territory to cut flight time.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s executive committee, said Kushner and his team were “scrambling to convince as many Arab and Muslim leaders as possible” to give Trump an election boost.
“They will be a prop at the backdrop of a meaningless spectacle for a ridiculous agreement that will not bring peace to the region,” she said.
1967 – U.N. Security Council Resolution 242
After the Six-Day War, U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict” in return for all states in the area to respect one another’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. The resolution is the foundation for many peace initiatives, but its imprecise phrasing – is the reference to all territories or just some? – has complicated efforts for decades.
1978 – Camp David agreement
Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat agree on a framework for regional peace that calls for an Israeli withdrawal in stages from Egypt’s Sinai and a transitional Palestinian government in the West Bank and Gaza.
1979 – Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty
The first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country sets out plans for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Sinai within three years. In 1981, Sadat was assassinated by Islamist revolutionaries opposed to the deal.
1991 – Madrid summit
Representatives of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) attend a peace conference. No agreements are reached but the scene is set for direct contacts.
1994 – Israel-Jordan agreement
Jordan becomes the second Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. But the treaty is unpopular and pro-Palestinian sentiment is widespread in Jordan.
1993-1995 – Declaration of Principles/Oslo Accords
Israel and the PLO hold secret talks in Norway that result in interim peace accords calling for the establishment of a Palestinian interim self-government and an elected council in the West Bank and Gaza for a five-year transitional period, Israeli troop withdrawals and negotiations on a permanent settlement.
2000 – Camp David summit
U.S. President Bill Clinton convenes Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David. They fail to agree. Another Palestinian uprising ensues.
2002-2003 – Bush Declaration/Arab peace initiative/Road Map
George W. Bush becomes the first U.S. president to call for the creation of a Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel “in peace and security”.
2002 – Saudi Arabia plan
Saudi Arabia presents Arab League-endorsed peace plan for full Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and Israel’s acceptance of a Palestinian state in return for normal relations with Arab countries. The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia present their own road map to a permanent two-state solution to the conflict.
2007 – Annapolis summit
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert fail to reach a deal at a U.S.-hosted summit. Olmert says later they were close to a deal but a graft investigation against him and a Gaza war in 2008 scupper any agreement.
2009 – Netanyahu’s Bar-Ilan address
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he would be prepared for a peace deal that includes the establishment of a demilitarised Palestinian state. He also sets another condition: Palestinian recognition of Israel as the “state of the Jewish people”.
2013-2014 – Washington peace talks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry coaxes Israelis and Palestinians to resume talks. They fail and are suspended in April 2014.
June 2019 – Trump economic plan announced
Preliminary stage of Trump’s Mideast Plan launched in Bahrain by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He takes an “economy first” approach, calling for a $50 billion investment fund to boost the Palestinian and neighbouring Arab economies. Palestinian leaders dismiss it.
2019 Netanyahu says he intends to annex West Bank settlements
Netanyahu says he intends to annex West Bank settlements and much of the Jordan Valley if elected. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo effectively backs Israel’s claimed right to build Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank by abandoning a four-decade-old U.S. position that they were inconsistent with international law. Most countries still regard them as illegal.
January 2020 – Trump unveils his full Mideast plan in Washington
Trump’s plan offered U.S. recognition for Israel’s sovereignty over its West Bank settlements and required Palestinians to meet difficult conditions for a state. Palestinians reject it as de facto annexation, saying it would leave them a fragmented “Swiss-cheese” state. Israel’s far-right settlers also reject the plan, opposing any form of Palestinian state.
Aug. 13, 2020 – Trump announces surprise deal to normalise relations between Israel and the UAE
Trump announces surprise deal to normalise relations between Israel and the UAE saying he hoped other Gulf countries would follow. UAE officials say the deal puts an end to West Bank annexation. But Netanyahu says it only meant Israel had agreed to “temporarily wait”.