© Associated Press
– Pictured in September 2020, from left to right, are Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-President Donald Trump, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmad Al Khalifa and his UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
As Israel and Hamas move on the brink of war and diplomatic efforts to control it fail, the world is faced with a precedent – Arab states are fighting for the story, write The Guardian.
For the first time in a long time, regional unity on “who is to blame” and what needs to be done has been broken. Against the backdrop of unequivocally reprehensible treatment by Turkey and Iran, at least a few countries have reacted relatively restrainedly – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
Only less than a year ago they began to normalize relations with Israel in a mediation initiative of the United States. Now they have to balance between their new connections and their citizens, angered by Israel’s actions, continues the publication’s Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov.
“Palestine is not my cause”
According to him, long-term observers of Israel and the Palestinians see a difficult situation for some regional powers in relations with the population and especially in the position of the denial coming from the United Arab Emirates.
According to Chris Doyle, director of the Arab-British Understanding Council, the Emirates is “growing a message” that “we will not deviate from this prosperous alliance with Israel”, which is valuable for the future – to contain Iran, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood. Much could be said in support of the Palestinians without supporting Hamas (recognized by Israel, the EU and the United States as a terrorist organization), but the UAE does not even do that, Doyle continues.
The hashtag “Palestine is not my cause”, which appeared on Twitter among users from the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait, seems like a state-driven reaction. Therefore, there are expectations that the new policies of these countries will severely damage their reputation and some may put a sign of equality between them and the Israeli occupation. In practice, newspapers in the UAE did not cover the conflict and were silenced in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This does not mean that Riyadh is willing to support Israeli action, as support for a solution to a Palestinian state remains; however, ties with Israel are deeper than ever.
–
