November 22-In a new piece a Tablet the UAE's Hend Al-Otaiba wrote about the importance of the Abraham Accords. "For the UAE and Israel, the benefits of the accord are straightforward. The two countries have never been in a state of active hostility, so there is none of the baggage that attends other Arab-Israeli interactions. We expect to see substantial mutual gains quickly, in a number of areas, from health care to agritech and tourism."
Hend Al-Otaiba is the Director of Strategic Communications, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has been a key voice amid the Abraham Accords as they developed since August. She writes "All these developments were in play as the Abraham Accord was coming together. We were certain that Israeli annexation would kill the two-state solution once and for all. So we acted fast, offering normalization of ties, in exchange for a stop to annexation." Yousef Al-Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US has also been speaking often about the peace deal, including to the Economic Club in Washington, to Israeli TV and at Israel's INSS. He has discussed the F-35 deal and other aspects, part of the UAE's increasing spotlight on the peace issue. The UAE has also been discussing issues of interfaith tolerance increasingly. See Mohammed Bin Zayed's November 16 tweet. More interfaith meetings and discussions with Jewish communal leaders are expected."
Hend Al-Otaiba, concluded her piece, "Last but certainly not least, we believe there is a place for the Jewish and Arab diasporas in this process. These are dynamic populations with world-class skills who care about the future of the region, and have influence in their own countries." New developments in the rapidly expanding relationship between Israel and the UAE are expected. Bahrain's foreign minister was in Israel on November 18 and Israel's Prime Minister reportedly met with Saudis on November 22.
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