Discreet ties between Israel and UAE had begun 26 years ago with a meetingbetween Israeli diplomat Jeremy Issacharoff and UAE officials in Washington.
Quoting Issacharoff, who is currently Israel’s ambassador in Germany,English-language daily the Times of Israel reported that in 1994, he wasapproached by an American consultant who worked for Gulf countries.
The consultant wanted to know from Issacharoff, who was working as numberthree in the Israeli mission in Washington, the Israel response about AbuDhabi’s bid to acquire F-16 fighter jets from the US.
The Emirates, though the consultant wanted to enquire about Israelireaction ahead of the issue of defense sales being discussed at the CapitolHill.
“I said, let us meet and discuss,” said Issacharoff.
Later on, at the office of the American consultant, Israeli diplomat metthe Emirati academic Jamal S. al-Suwaidi who had established the EmiratesCenter for Strategic Studies and Research — a UAE-backed think tank.
“We met for the first time and the conversations just flowed. We talkedabout many different things. It became clear very quickly that theconversation was revealing a lot of similar ideas and interests that weshared, “he said.
According to the Times of Israel, al-Suwaidi and Issacharoff met a few moretimes and included other UAE officials also to develop a mutual trustrelationship.
During the signing ceremony of the normalization agreement between UAE andIsrael at the White House, Issacharoff took a picture with Yousefal-Otaiba, Abu Dhabi’s envoy to US.
Posting the picture on Twitter, he wrote: “On this day after many years offriendship and discreet contacts, we can now be photographed togetherwithout masks.”
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“I have known Yousef al-Otaiba for many years. During this time, wedeveloped a personal friendship based on trust, discretion, and mutualcredibility,” Israeli diplomat told the newspaper.
Issacharoff, the former deputy director-general of Israel’s ForeignMinistry said: “One of the most important things in such discussions is tobe very discreet, and to be able to maintain your credibility.”
Eventually, the UAE got the F-16 aircraft.
Regarding the Palestinian cause, the diplomat said: “In all of theconversations that we had, the UAE raised the Palestinian issue. It wasvery clear what our respective positions were on this issue. It didn’tprevent us from having this broader regional discussion.”
On Sept. 15, the UAE and Bahrain signed US-sponsored agreements toestablish diplomatic relations with Israel.
The Palestinian Authority and resistance factions have denounced theagreements, saying they do not serve the Palestinian cause and ignore therights of Palestinians. Anadolu Agency
*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara
