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UAE-Israel: Toward a real and lasting peace - opinion - The Jerusalem Post

Perhaps no news about the appointment of an ambassador to another country has received as much attention as the naming of Amir Hayek as Israel’s ambassador to the UAE. The story made headlines on many websites and news outlets as soon as it was announced. This great interest is due in part to the intense media interest in the UAE and Israel’s process of normalizing relations.
Each step taken forward by the two sides receives considerable regional and international attention. The interest is also related to the significance of the appointment of a seasoned economist as Israel’s first permanent ambassador to the UAE.
The most important message that can be gleaned from Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s statement on the appointment of Hayek to the UAE is the priority of the economy, trade and investment in bilateral relations. Since the signing of the peace agreement in September 2020, the economy has been a top priority in both sides’ strategic thinking.
The choice of an Israeli ambassador comes at a sensitive time. Perhaps the timing is to reassure about the reality of the relationship between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv. The two sides talk a lot about the economy, mutual cooperation and common interests.
But this reiteration does not stop many from promoting conspiracy theories and throwing accusations here and there. Yet, the news of Ambassador Hayek’s appointment came to refute the false allegations about the UAE’s position on the Palestinian people, and to make plain that the economy is the priority of both countries in the next stage.
The peace agreement aims to achieve security and stability and establish a culture of coexistence. There is no economy or trade without real peace that everyone believes in and is striving to bring about.
Until his appointment as ambassador, Hayek was president of the Israel Hotel Association. A renowned economist, he played a major role in increasing Israeli industrial capacity and export rates and in establishing Israeli strategic alliances with major global economic entities. He served as director general of the Israel Export Institute until 2001. He also led many large companies and managed the Manufacturers’ Association of Israel until 2015, and then founded a private company.
The man is distant from the realm of security and politics, an important background for the majority of Israeli diplomats and ambassadors, as it is in many countries of the world of course. So, the focus on the economy, trade, investment, technical, industrial and tourism cooperation in the UAE-Israel relations is obvious.
Hayek “has a wealth of experience and knowledge in the fields of economics and tourism,” said Lapid. He “is the right man to institutionalize the bridge between Israel and the Emirates.” That shows a strong desire to make economic cooperation a reality and establish its rules.
BOTH SIDES have a deep understanding of the attention to be lavished on specific areas, through selecting officials who can translate this understanding into an actual reality that benefits both the UAE and Israel.
The continuation of bilateral relations in the period following the signing of the peace agreement last September is an urgent need to formalize this cooperation in order to obtain the maximum possible returns. Many cooperation agreements have been signed by both sides. There are investment commitments and memorandums of understanding that need a roadmap to turn them into bilateral agreements, in order to flesh out the strong common commitment to focus on the economic, scientific and industrial dimensions of relations.
The UAE’s innovative economy still needs to expand its global cooperation networks around the knowledge economy, accelerating digital transformation, promoting entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, agricultural technologies, water source solutions, smart cities and renewable energy.
But it’s not just high-tech. There are also shared interests in other vital areas such as banking, energy, tourism, and logistics related to the UAE’s ambitious development plans, including the UAE Centennial 2071.
Statistics say that from September 2020 to January 2021, trade agreements between the UAE and Israel have been signed that are estimated to be worth around 1 billion dirhams/shekels. Bilateral trade is expected to reach about 14 billion dirhams/shekels over the next five years.
The UAE is expected to become a major gateway for the flow of Israeli products and goods to Asia and Arab countries. The latter will gradually move toward cooperation with Israel and benefit from its progress in various sectors. All the more so if there is a major qualitative breakthrough toward the resolution of the Palestinian issue, ending this historic conflict in order to achieve security, stability and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. Such a breakthrough could result in a new economic, investment and geopolitical map of the Middle East.
The Israeli foreign minister told a news conference inside the building housing Israel’s consulate in a Dubai financial center, “We’ll sign more agreements... so it will expand. The vision is [that] it moves from governments to businesses and people.” The common goal, then, is to build a true and lasting peace between Arab societies and Israel, a peace that will bear fruit in terms of development, construction, and everyday life.
The economic and trade cooperation agreement signed during the foreign minister’s visit to the UAE speaks of promising ambitions for the future, such as free trade in goods and services, and the aspiration to sign a free trade agreement on which discussions have already begun.
The UAE-Israel relationship is already exceptional, focused on the interests of the countries and the future of societies and future generations, ultimately building a model of development diplomacy and true and lasting peace throughout the Middle East.
The writer is a UAE political analyst and former Federal National Council candidate.

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