The United Arab Emirates has become a force in the Middle East
Its deal with Israel is indicative of a quiet, yet savvy foreign policy
IT WAS NOT quite Anwar Sadat speaking before the Knesset, or King Hussein and Yitzhak Rabin clutching hands in the Rose Garden. That would not have been Muhammad bin Zayed’s style. The agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced on August 13th, was hashed out quietly by spies and sheikhs and unveiled largely on Twitter. It made the UAE the first Gulf country and only the third Arab state to open formal relations with Israel. Yet it had all the pomp and circumstance of a tariff agreement.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “The strong, silent type”
Middle East & Africa August 22nd 2020
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From the August 22nd 2020 edition
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