What a monumental year it has been for the United Arab Emirates and Israel, as we celebrate the first anniversary of our two countries establishing relations. Our achievements over this time are the result of the heroic steps of our leaders and those of the United States and Bahrain, who made history with the signing of the Abraham Accords which took place on September 15, 2020 on the White House lawn.
On that momentous day, Emirati, Bahraini and Israeli leadership signed a commitment to create a new Middle East based on peace and a sustainable economy for the whole region. We are all dedicated to creating this future for our children so that they grow up knowing that peace is the solution to fixing problems and creating opportunities. Instead of looking at the Middle East through the lens of regional security threats – as generations before us did – we must look at it through the lens of opportunity and empowering our youth so that this relationship becomes impenetrable.
Looking back on the last year, there have been many notable moments for our two nations. There have been many partnerships in business, healthcare, technology, education and culture. We have seen tourism increase, even despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We also learned that we could continue to work together even when there was a bump along the road, such as the Israel-Gaza conflict past May. To the people who thought that would impact the Accords, I’m here to share that it did not, and it will not.
Our leaders had the foresight to know there would be challenges along this path, as with all relationships. But we are in this for the long-haul and know that our joint vision for the future of the region takes time and nurturing.
Recently, we opened our embassy in Tel Aviv and Israeli Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid visited Abu Dhabi where he inaugurated Israel’s new embassy.
I have been living in Israel for nearly six months and during this time, I have developed relationships with many Israelis – including Arabs – who are very supportive of the vision we are trying to build. They continue to introduce me to others who are equally as committed. I have welcomed many to our new embassy and some visitors remark how unbelievable it is to have an ambassador from the Arabian Gulf in Tel Aviv. Some have shared, with tears in their eyes, that this is something they didn’t expect to see in their lifetime.
While I am also thrilled that we have an embassy here in Israel, this statement is somewhat upsetting because it implies that they thought the loud voice of the naysayers in our region who want to promote hate would be louder than those who want to spread tolerance, acceptance, and friendship. It means that some people’s mindset is still a few generations back when we looked at the region through the lens of regional security threats and not opportunity.
This region does not belong exclusively to anyone, but we all belong to the region, and we must all work together to address both regional and global challenges. We must learn to tend to our region ourselves. If we look back at our joint heritage, we can learn from our Golden Age where we – Muslims, Jews and Christians and other ethnicities – worked together to set the foundation for arts and culture, sociology, medicine, astrology, chemistry, engineering and more. We did this all before there was racism and hate thrown into the mix. We brought together our greatest minds to create opportunity and we must work together and do that again.
The sustainable peace we are building cannot be achieved without an equally sustainable economy. Our governments both share this belief and it is what motivates us each day. Our children are looking for a better future where they can find a job, make a decent living and prosper in peace. The only way to achieve this is to look forward, not backward, and for us to focus on the opportunities that are ahead.
Today, our table is set with a new government in Israel and multiple countries in the region who have joined together to create this new Middle East. We must ask ourselves what legacy we want to leave behind for our children and generations to come. We have the same vision and that is to create sustainable peace and economic opportunities for our citizens. We all have a seat at the table, and we must pull up our individual chairs and do our part to help move this region forward by focusing on the opportunities before us.
The writer is the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Israel.