In a ceremony at the White House, leaders of the three countries herald a new era of normalization in the Middle East, signing the Abraham Accords.
Published on Israel21c
History was made on Tuesday (September 15) as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed the Abraham Accords with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Abdullatif Al Zayani.
The signing ceremony was hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House. Copies of the agreement in English, Hebrew and Arabic were signed by all parties.
“We have just finished a historic visit to Washington during which we signed the documents to establish two peace agreements with two Arab countries,” Netanyahu said on his way back to Israel afterward.
“The citizens of Israel will see the fruits of these agreements very quickly, but they will be with us for generations. Everyone who was there understood that we made a historic turning point for the State of Israel and for peace.”
Those fruits are already ripening in many different areas in the UAE, following the normalization agreement announced August 13.
Myriad activities already happening include joint stem-cell therapy research, expansion of an Israeli shoe-store chain to the UAE, the filming of an Israeli lingerie ad campaign in Dubai, and other mutual projectsranging from entertainment to healthcare.
The Bahrain agreement was announced on September 13, just before the leaders went to Washington.
Trump stated that about five additional Gulf countries are expected to sign similar normalization agreements with Israel in the coming months.
“It took us 26 years to get from the second peace agreement with an Arab state to the third peace agreement, and it took us not 26 years but 29 days to reach the peace agreement between the third Arab state and the fourth Arab state, and there will be more,” Netanyahu said.
The countries will exchange embassies and ambassadors, begin direct flights between their countries, and launch cooperative initiatives across sectors including health, business, technology, education, security, agriculture and tourism.
CWS Israel is promoting all peace and normalisation efforts, and has already made steps to begin bilateral relationship with companies in the UAE.
