Gulf’s ‘Little Sparta’ asserts its role with Israel deal | Financial Times:
When Benjamin Netanyahu began a fifth term as Israel’s prime minister this year pledging to annex nearly a third of the occupied West Bank, his plans drew the time-honoured criticism from the Arab world. But the United Arab Emirates, a powerful Gulf state that has for years been covertly cultivating ties with Israel, was surprisingly outspoken in its condemnation.
Senior Emirati officials, including Yousef al-Otaiba, the UAE’s influential ambassador in Washington, warned that claiming Israeli sovereignty over Palestinian land would upend the Jewish state’s hopes of improving relations with Arab nations and spark violence. But with each warning came a carrot: lines of communication with the Jewish state would “yield better results for us”. There would be benefits to normalising relations.
The message resonated in the US and Israel. In the weeks that followed, Israeli and Emirati officials held meetings that led to the US-brokered deal announced on Thursday that the two powers had agreed to establish full diplomatic relations. In return, Mr Netanyahu agreed to “suspend” annexation, although he insists it is still his policy.
The Israeli prime minister is hailing it as a victory of his diplomacy; Emirati officials are selling the deal as a bold decision that has put a brake on annexation and kept alive the notion of a viable Palestinian state.