Israel’s PM Bennett in historic visit to United Arab Emirates
Jerusalem, Dec 12 (EFE).- Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday began a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates.
He is the first Israeli prime minister to make an official visit to the Gulf nation, where he is due to meet with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“I’m about to depart to the United Arab Emirates in the first ever official visit of an Israel prime minister,” Bennett said before boarding the plane.
“We’re going to be discussing ways to further our cooperation in a number of fields, especially strengthening our economic and commercial ties.
“In just one year since normalizing our relationship, we’ve already seen the extraordinary potential of the Israel-UAE partnership, and this is just the beginning.”
The UAE was the first country in the region to sign up to the so-called Abraham Accords in 2020, normalizing ties with Israel. Other Arab nations like Bahrain and Morocco followed, as did Sudan although the African country has yet to sign the convention officially.
It marked a shift in the geopolitics of the region, as most Arab nations had conditioned any normalization of ties with Israel on the creation of a Palestinian state.
Egypt and Jordan, which share borders with Israel, have had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1978 and 1994 respectively.
Relations between Israel and the UAE are the most advanced under the Abraham Accords and involve commercial ties worth billions of dollars and a boost in tourism.
The UAE opened an embassy in Tel Aviv in July. EFE
