"Donald Trump's greatest foreign-policy achievement came out of nowhere. On August 13, 2020, with essentially no advance warning or leaks, the president announced on Twitter that Israel was establishing diplomatic and trade relations with the United Arab Emirates, a wealthy Middle Eastern country that had previously rejected the Jewish state's right to exist. "HUGE breakthrough today!" Trump wrote. "Historic Peace Agreement between our two GREAT friends, Israel and the United Arab Emirates!" After this declaration, the diplomatic dominoes fell in rapid succession; other Arab states joined what became known as the Abraham Accords, culminating in a signing ceremony at the White House one month later."
"Less remembered is what the Accords prevented: Israeli annexation of the West Bank. In exchange for Emirati recognition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government agreed to a "suspension of Israel's plans to extend its sovereignty." In plain English, Israel's conservative coalition shelved plans to formally incorporate swaths of occupied Palestinian territory into Israel, preserving a path to a two-state solution and deferring a longtime dream of the country's settlers that had been inching closer to fruition."
"Since then, the Accords have proved remarkably durable, weathering even the past two years of the Gaza war. But that may be about to change. On September 3, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister, unveiled a proposal to annex 82 percent of the West Bank and called on Netanyahu to enact it. "It is time to apply Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria," he said in a statement, referring to the area's biblical names, "and remove once and for all the idea of dividing our small land and establishing a terrorist state in its heart." The next day, top Israeli ministers were scheduled to discuss the idea of annexation-that is, until the UAE intervened."
The Abraham Accords normalized diplomatic and trade relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in August 2020, prompting other Arab states to join and producing a White House signing. The Accords also prevented planned Israeli annexation of the West Bank by securing Emirati recognition in exchange for a "suspension of Israel's plans to extend its sovereignty," thereby preserving a potential two-state pathway and delaying settler aims to incorporate occupied territory. The Accords remained durable through the Gaza war, but far-right Israeli proposals to annex large West Bank areas, notably an 82 percent plan, now risk unraveling the agreements and provoking UAE pushback.
Read at The Atlantic
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