News
This could be the year Israel is seen as force for good in region
Relations with Egypt and Jordan will continue to improve
January 7, 2022 11:45
Relations with Egypt and Jordan will continue to improve
January 7, 2022 11:45There is every chance that the historic alliances of the Abraham Accords will to continue to bear fruit in 2022. Not only is Israel hoping to further develop and deepen ties with new friends like the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, but the peace deals may continue to have positive repercussions right across the Middle East.
In particular, it is possible – even likely – that the Accords will have an impact on public opinion in some of Israel’s immediate neighbours.
The older peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan have long served as a strategic anchor for Israel’s regional outlook. However, they have traditionally failed to affect attitudes beyond the political and security leadership, and have until now remained a “cold peace”.
Public opinion in both Jordan and Egypt has remained frosty at best and is often openly hostile, with antisemitic conspiracy theories commonplace.
But the Bennett-Lapid government has invested significant political capital in improving ties with both President Sisi of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan (who hosted Defence Minister Benny Gantz in Amman this week).
The green energy agreement between Israel, Jordan and UAE last month is one prominent example.
As part of the deal, Jordan agreed to build a huge, solar power plant in the desert that will be used to generate electricity for the jewish state. In turn, Israel will develop another desalination plant and supply the water to Jordan.
The deal was financed by the UAE, despite attempts by Saudi Arabia to gazump Israel as the future leader in environmentally friendly energy in the region.
Other projects along these lines are in the offing, including with Egypt. The UAE has shown it is ready to play a constructive role in expanding the Israel-Egypt Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) manufacturing park, an initiative set up in the Nineties to build economic ties between Israel and its neighbours.
That agreement will allow Egypt to export goods to the US tax free, so long as elements are also produced in Israel.
More broadly, the Jewish state has successfully built alliances stretching from Morocco to Greece and Cyprus, and extending east to the Gulf and India.
There is progress in the military sphere, too. At the end of the 2021, Israel took part in naval training exercise for the first time alongside the UAE, Bahrain and the United States in the Red Sea. What starts in Israeli waters could next time be hosted in the Persian Gulf, which is bound to rile the Iranians.
Perhaps this year will see the Palestinian Authority drop its lawfare against Israel and – like the brave Israeli Arab leader Mansour Abbas – finally recognise Israel as a Jewish State.
Perhaps 2022 will be the year Israel is finally perceived across the region as a force for good.
Richard Pater is Director of the Britain Israel Comunications and Research Centre (BICOM)