Last month’s Israeli violence in Palestinelink triggered “uncomfortable conversations”between business partners in Israel and the United Arab Emirates justmonths after the countries normalised tieslink, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem told*AFP*.
But the conversations were “open” and “everybody was very moderate andunderstanding”, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a bilateral investment conference in Dubai,Hassan-Nahoum, co-founder of the UAE-Israel Business Council, alsoexpressed hope that trade between the two countries would exceed thebillion-dollar mark in the coming year.
The UAE in 2020 became only the third Arab country to establish full tieswith Israel, under a Washington-backed deal condemned by the Palestinians.
The two sides have since announced a string of dealslink on investment, business cooperation andvisa-free travel.
But last month, clashes in Jerusalem sparked an 11-day flare-up that sawIsraeli jets pound the Gaza Strip, while Palestinian militants there firedthousands of rockets into Israel in retaliation.
“It wasn’t easy,” Hassan-Nahoum said of the atmosphere between Israelibusiness leaders and their UAE counterparts.
“I am involved in a lot of different forums of Israelis and Emiratis andthere were some uncomfortable conversations, but it was important that wehad those conversations,” she said.
“We had very open conversations on areas of disagreements […] people hada lot of questions about the (Israeli) military campaign” which involvedair and mortar strikes on Gaza, she added.’Proportionality’
“We are definitely at the beginning of this relationship […] one of themost important things about having a long-lasting relationship is to buildtrust,” Hassan-Nahoum said.
“After many years of not having this friendship I think it takes time.”
The main questions centred on the “proportionality” of Israel’s response torocket attacks from Gaza, but also “about Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, aboutwhat happened in Al-Aqsa mosque,” she said.
The Gaza conflict erupted when Hamas began firing volleys of rockets intoIsrael after repeated attacks on Palestinian worshipperslink by Israeli forces in Jerusalem’sAl-Aqsa mosque compound.
It also followed weeks of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinianprotestors in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood against the forced expulsionof Palestinians from their homes in favour of Jewish settlers.
Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 260 Palestinians, including 66 children, andwounded over 1,900 people, the Gaza health ministry says.
Rockets and other fire from Gaza have killed 13 people in Israel, includinga child and an Arab-Israeli teenager, an Israeli soldier, one Indian, andtwo Thai nationals, medics and the military say. Some 357 people in Israelwere wounded.
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An Egyptian-mediated truce link has so farheld.
The conflict put a pause on months of warming relations, prompting the UAEto publicly criticise Israel link over itsactions, while some Emirati social media users called for a boycott.
“Israel lost the public relations campaign it carried out […] to improveits image and gain acceptance,” prominent business lawyer Habib al-Mullasaid on Twitter, denouncing Israeli “provocations”.’We will get there’
But Hassan-Nahoum vowed to press ahead with ties that have already producedtrade worth “about half a billion dollars so far”.
“A few months ago it was like 300 million and I think that (there) has beena real push in the last few months,” she said, noting that this figure“would have been much higher” in the absence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I think it would have been already in the billion dollars mark — but wewill get there, inshallah, next year,” she said.
This week’s trade fair sought to pave the way for cooperation deals in thefields of health, renewable energy and technology.
UAE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a further sign that the commercial relationship remains broadly ontrack, Israel and the UAE this week also agreed on a bilateral tax treaty.
But a visit to Dubai by Israeli Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen toattend a travel industry forum in mid-May was cancelled.
The UAE was the third Arab country to normalise ties with Israel, followingEgypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan have sincefollowed suit.
The Abraham Accords swept away decades of consensus that there should be norelations with Israel until it makes peace with the Palestinians.
Palestinians have condemned the normalisation agreements as “a stab in theback”.
Last month’s violence also saw Israel’s other new Arab partners publiclycriticise Israeli actions.
