Israel commemorates Abraham Accords; ‘truly historic milestone’ in Middle East peace

A senior member of US House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who attended the signing of Abraham Peace Accords at the White House in Sep. 2020, had called the agreement a “historic milestone for the Middle East”. Now, one year on, as the Abraham Accords mark the first anniversary of the rare normalization of relations between the Gulf Arab states and Israel, the state of Israel took to its official Twitter handle labelling the Trump era deal “a milestone for peace in the region”. Furthermore, it announced the Talking Peace event scheduled for September 14, 2021, about the accord with the Spokesperson of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lior Haiat. 

Abraham Peace Accord was negotiated by the former US President’s Trump’s son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner, who, back in March also wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal advising President Joe Biden on Middle East policy. Kushner explained that Trump-era Abraham Accords “set the table to unleash the Middle East’s potential, keep America safe, and help the region turn the page on a generation of conflict and instability.” He then advised the Biden administration “to be smart” and see opportunities that Trump had “served” in the middle east region by striking a historic peace deal between four Arab states and Israel. 

[Credit: US State Department]

“Thanks to the great courage of the leaders of these three countries, we take a major stride toward a future in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity," former US President Donald Trump had said. He added, “These agreements prove that the nations of the region are breaking free from the failed approaches of the past. Accord signing sets history on a new course.”

Signed on Sept. 15, Abraham Accord was a “momentous pact” that dawned a new era of “beginning of several future peace accords to strengthen peace within the region,” the White House stated. The deal was signed in presence of the ex-US commander-in-chief and former President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif Bin Rashid Al Zayani of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

“It is important to note, after decades of conflict, this is the first such agreement between Israel and any major Arab country since 1994,” said Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, who was at the White House to witness the signing, which he called “a truly historic milestone” in Middle East peace. “The United States has again brought strength to Israel — one of our strongest allies in the region — and strength bring peace,” he added. 

[Credit: US State Department]

The then-US President Donald Trump met with Netanyahu and Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the South Lawn of the White House to sign the Abraham Accords. Later, Morocco followed the suit and normalized ties with Israel in a similar agreement negotiated on Dec. 22, 2020. Sudan, meanwhile, also joined the league. An El Al 971 commercial plane carrying the US and Israeli officials took off in a historic first to the United Arab Emirates from Tel Aviv as Saudi, for the first time, opened its airspace to Israel. The nearly 20-minute flight was a part of the resumption of air travel between Israel and UAE as a part of the normalization of relations that was boarded by high-level Israeli and US delegations including Trump’s advisor Jared Kushner. 

“This peace will eventually expand to include other Arab states, and ultimately can end the Arab-Israeli conflict, once and for all,” the then-Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu had said at the presser, during the White House ceremony. 

“We are witnessing today a new trend that will create a better path for the Middle East,” Abdullah bin Zayed said through an interpreter. He added that this new vision “is not a slogan that we raise for political gains” and that “peace is our guiding principle.”  

[Credit: US State Department]

Abdullatif bin Rashid al Zayani meanwhile called the accord an “important first step.”  “It is now incumbent on us to work urgently and actively to bring about the lasting peace and security our peoples deserve,” he said. “A just, comprehensive and enduring two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be the foundation, the bedrock of such peace.” 

[Israel-UAE plane carrying officials took off from Ben Gurion Airport to Saudi in a historic first. Credit: AP]

The plane departed from Ben Gurion Airport at 10:30 a.m and landed at 3:05 p.m, according to the Israeli Airline Pilots Association, which released a tentative map of 971’s route resulting in celebratory cheer in the region. Gulf nation had prohibited Israeli airlines to fly over its air corridor and therefore, the planes took a long detour via the Red Sea. But with Abraham Accords signed between UAE and Tel Aviv at a ceremony hosted by the White House, Saudi Arabia authorized the use of its airspace after receiving a request from Washington. 

“These visionary leaders will sign the first two peace deals between Israel and the Arab state in more than a quarter-century,” Trump had said at the Abraham Accords signing ceremony. “In Israel's entire history there have previously been only two such agreements, now we have achieved two in a single month.”   

[Credit: US State Department]

Palestine labelled Abraham Accords signing 'a black day'

As the deal was signed, former US President Trump did not mention the Palestinians in his remarks during the ceremony and instead acknowledged Israel and Arab nations for taking a major step towards regional diplomacy. “We've taken a very different path,” Trump had said during a bilateral meeting at the Oval office with UAE’s Abdullah bin Zayed ahead of the ceremony. He went on to add, “You could say it's a back door, but I call it a smart door.”  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu meanwhile thanked Trump for brokering peace.

[Credit: US State Department]

“You have boldly confronted the tyrants of Tehran, you’ve proposed a realistic vision for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and you've successfully brokered the historic peace that we are signing today,” Netanyahu said at the White House. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh although had condemned the Abraham Accords as he warned the Arab nations calling the ceremony “a black day in the history of Arab nations.”