As Israel negotiates the final peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates, one must ponder if the brave stance taken by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in favor of establishing "peace between two peoples" will lead to other Arab and Muslim countries following in Abu Dhabi's footsteps.
Mendi Safadi, who heads the Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research, Public Relations and Human Rights, believes that it will.
"The joy felt by the people of Israel and the United Arab Emirates following the normalization agreement will not be the only one," he proclaimed. "More countries from the Persian Gulf and maybe even other Muslim countries outside of the Persian Gulf will follow suit. On social media, people from many different countries have welcomed the agreement and urged their government to follow suit, reflecting responsibly the national interests of those countries."
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For example, according to MEMRI, Sudanese politician Mubarak Al Fadil Al Mahdi praised the Israel-UAE agreement, stressing that Sudan should follow in Abu Dhabi's footsteps: "Israel is an important country for America and the West. It has obtained many technological secrets from the US and elsewhere. Therefore, marrying Arab money with Western- and American-inspired Israeli technological capabilities can be of great economic benefit to our Arab region. In addition, the decision and approach of the United Arab Emirates will open new horizons for a comprehensive peace in the region."
Similarly, Kuwaiti TV host Fajer Al Saeed declared that the Palestinians made a huge blunder by rejecting the peace agreement between Israel and the UAE: "If the UAE is taking a step that would benefit our Palestinian brothers, but the Palestinians reject this step... Enough! Let them have it their way. It is just like in the case of [Egyptian leader] Anwar Sadat. When he signed the peace accord, his terms included not just Egypt but also Palestine. And the Israelis accepted this at the time! It was the Palestinians who rejected the proposal."
Saudi journalist Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed concurred, expressing that every Arab country has the right to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.
"The Palestinian Authority, the Iranian axis, Turkey and Qatar are the only ones condemning the agreement," Safadi proclaimed. This fact alone highlights that a historic change in Arab-Israeli relations has taken place.
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