(Al Jazeera) Sean Mathews - Plans are still quietly underway for the upcoming opening of the Israel-Gulf Cooperation Council Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dubai, UAE. The chamber was established in February, after the Abraham Accords. While the voices condemning the Abraham Accords are loud, there are other voices. "People call us from the Gulf, and also Morocco saying, 'Be careful, it's dangerous. Be safe and let's hope it will be finished soon and we can go back to our activities and everything we want to do'," Henrique Cymerman, president of the Israel-GCC Chamber of Commerce, told Al Jazeera. Eitan Na'eh, head of mission at Israel's new embassy in Abu Dhabi, said 130,000 Israelis have visited the UAE since normalization. Ibrahim Al-Assil, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said, "Normalization was driven by national security needs and economic aspirations. They didn't attempt to solve the Palestinian conflict, nor can they....The Abraham Accords will lose some momentum, but I do not expect them to change because the rational behind them and goals that drove them are still there." A controversial Emirati cleric and vocal supporter of normalization with Israel, Waseem Yousef, recently tweeted, "Hamas launches rockets from within civilian neighborhoods and when the response comes, Hamas cries, 'Where are the Arabs and Muslims?' You have made Gaza a graveyard for the innocent and children."
2021-05-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive