NEW DELHI: The historic peace deal between Israel and the UAE is no surprise to close watchers of West Asia politics. As Navdeep Suri, Distinguished Fellow at ORF and former envoy to the UAE points out to Ashwin Ahmad the two nations had finally come out of the closet on a relationship that had been steady for some time now. Shared antipathy towards Iran and Hamas along with a very public visit by an Israeli minister to the Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi showcased the beginnings of this beautiful friendship. Watching carefully, US President Donald Trump, eager to make good on his ‘Deal of the Century’, nudged along the relationship by not so subtly warning Benjamin Netanyahu that ultimate annexation of Palestinian land which the Israeli PM had earlier been threatening – was not in his best interest. The result is a relationship with a pragmatic Arab country which Suri believes could soon be followed by others such as Bahrain, Oman and possibly even Saudi Arabia. As for Palestinians they will just have to accept ground realities for now. But while the Palestinians lose Netanyahu and especially Trump gains big. A win he can flash at the Jewish community, just before the Republican and Democrat conventions is something that Joe Biden will fight hard to combat in the coming months. As for New Delhi, India can be very happy in the fact that two of its closest allies have come together in West Asia ensuring new possibilities in cooperation on defence, fighting terrorism and violent extremism.
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