(Commentary) Noah Rothman - Critics claim that regional politics may already be pivoting away from the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and many of its Sunni Arab neighbors. Yet normalization progressed rapidly because of the realization that the priority for the region's Sunni states was containing Iran, not resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Today, Israel enjoys a functional diplomatic relationship with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, and Oman. While many of these states have condemned Israel's actions in Gaza, theirs has been a lethargic response. The genius of the Abraham Accords is in their decoupling of these Sunni Arab states' relations with Israel from the state of its intractable conflict with the Palestinian territories. The Gaza conflict might have slowed progress toward full normalization of diplomatic and security relations between Israel and the Gulf states, but it has not reversed it. An epochal concord is being tested, but it is emerging intact.
2021-05-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive