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UAE to invest $10bn in Israel

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What happened: Despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s postponed trip to the UAE yesterday, the two countries announced a billion-dollar investment deal.

  • Netanyahu said: “I spoke with my friend Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and we have agreed on three things: to carry out a visit soon; to promote a ‘Green Pass’ mechanism between the two countries; and the third, most important thing, is the UAE planning to invest a gigantic sum of $10 billion in various projects in Israel.”
  • According to Foreign Policy, bilateral trade between Israel and the UAE is expected to increase from $300,000 to $500 million a year.
  • A diplomatic dispute involving Jordan was at the centre of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cancelled trip to the UAE yesterday.
  • The plane that the UAE had sent to pick up Netanyahu was not authorised to take off yesterday morning in Jordan. By the time the authorities gave their approval, the trip was impossible due to other commitments for Netanyahu in the afternoon.
  • The unscheduled trip was first reported Wednesday evening and was due to involve a meeting with UAE Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed at the international airport for a few hours.
  • The Prime Minister said: “Difficulties in coordinating our flights was due to an incident that happened yesterday on the Temple Mount.”
  • That incident was a mishap over Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein’s visit to the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif on Wednesday night. Israeli reports claim it was cancelled due to the Crown Prince’s security delegation that arrived at the border was both larger and more heavily armed than had been agreed.
  • However, the Jordanian Foreign Minister refuted the Israeli position, saying: “We had reached arrangements for visits with the Israeli side. We were surprised when they sought to impose new arrangements and change the plan for the visit in a manner which would have distressed Jerusalemites during that night of worship. As such, the crown prince decided that he would not impose that upon Muslims or disturb the purity of that night.”
  • Yesterday afternoon, Prime Minister Netanyahu held a three-way meeting in Jerusalem with his Hungarian and Czech counterparts in which they agreed to cooperate on research and development of coronavirus vaccines, as well as on so-called “green passports” to allow mutual travel between countries for vaccinated individuals.
  • Earlier on Thursday, the Czech Republic inaugurated its embassy’s branch office in Jerusalem, defying the EU’s policy not to recognise the city as Israel’s capital.

Context: It was the fourth time that Netanyahu had cancelled his trip to the UAE following the signing of the Abraham Accords last summer.

  • It was reported that Netanyahu had dispatched Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to convince the UAE to hold the meeting, despite their concerns over its close timing to the elections in Israel.
  • Crown Prince Hussein has never visited Israel and his trip to Jerusalem would have strengthened the Jordanian role as guardians of the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif. On Monday the Crown Prince accompanied his father, King Abdullah II, on a visit to Saudi Arabia.
  • This morning Israel Hayom reports that “Saudi Arabia seeks to establish a new status quo on the Temple Mount and is willing to invest tens of billions of dollars in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount, and to normalise relations with Israel on some level”.
  • Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi have been heavily involved in improving ties with the Jordanians during their time in office. Yesterday Gantz accused Netanyahu of responsibility for the diplomatic incident, saying in a statement that Israel is “committed to agreements with the Jordanians and has great respect for the Jordanian government and King Abdullah”.
  • He added: “Jordan is Israel’s strategic partner. The defence and diplomatic ties we share are a cornerstone of our national security approach. Unfortunately, Netanyahu’s conduct in recent years has done significant damage to our relations with Jordan, causing Israel to lose considerable defensive, diplomatic and economic assets.”
  • The diplomatic spat brings to the forefront the breakdown of government relations between Israel and Jordan over the past few years. Relations were disrupted in 2017 following the shooting at the Israeli embassy in Amman in which two Jordanian civilians were killed. A year later, Jordan announced that it was not extending the lease clause in the peace agreement for the Tzofar and Naharayim enclave areas on the border between the countries.
  • Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban congratulated Israel as “the world champion in fighting against [the] pandemic,” whilst Czech Republic Prime Minister Andrej Babis condemned the International Criminal Court’s decision to launch an investigation into possible was crimes by Israel in the Palestinian territories, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

Looking ahead: The Emirates say the funds would go to energy, manufacturing, water, space, healthcare and agritech and will “support development initiatives to promote regional economic cooperation between the two countries”.

  • In a bid to help relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, the Munich Group – consisting of Egypt, Germany, France, and Jordan – held a meeting yesterday in Paris whereby the Egyptian foreign minister said the group is waiting for the election process in both Palestine and Israel before setting out possible talk proposals.