Israel eyes other Arab nations after establishing ties with UAE

Israel hopes that Thursday's dramatic announcement that the United Arab Emirates would soon be establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel will prompt other Arab nations to follow suit.

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu hinted at further diplomatic developments during his Thursday night press conference when he said, "I believe there is a good chance we will soon see more Arab countries joining this expanding circle of peace".

Speculation was rife in Israel on Friday over which country might be next; Bahrain, Oman and Sudan, as well at the Maghreb states, were all mentioned as possibilities.

Israel has long sought normalisation with the Arab world but the ongoing Palestinian conflict, and its continued occupation of Palestinian territory, have thwarted such a development.

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Egypt became the first Arab nation to establish an embassy in Tel Aviv in 1980, followed by Jordan in 1994. Although Israel set up trade missions in a number of Arab states and developed commercial and intelligence ties with Gulf states, formal relations remained elusive.

In recent years what was seen as a common threat from Iran brought even closer ties with a number of Sunni Arab countries – particularly in the military and intelligence sphere – and Israeli officials have hinted that it was only a matter of time before additional Arab states would agree to normalise ties.

Abu Dhabi agreed to establish formal ties in return for Mr Netanyahu dropping his plan to annex up to 30 per cent of the occupied West Bank.

Mr Netanyahu declared that he still plans annexation at some future date but this won't happen without a green light from Washington, and president Donald Trump made it clear that such a scenario is now "off the table".

Alternative leader

The right wing in Israel was furious at the quid pro quo and said the time has come for an alternative leader to Mr Netanyahu.

Naftali Bennett, head of the right-wing opposition Yamina party, welcomed the diplomatic breakthrough but criticised the fact that Mr Netanyahu has jettisoned annexation.

“It’s unfortunate that Netanyahu missed a once-in-a-century opportunity to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan valley, Ma’ale Adumim, Beit El and the rest of the Israeli settlements,” he said. “It’s tragic that Netanyahu didn’t seize the moment and didn’t muster the courage to apply sovereignty over even a centimetre of the land of Israel. But sovereignty over tracts of our homeland is yet to come, from somewhere else.”

David Elhayani, head of the Yesha settlers' council, the umbrella organisation of West Bank Jewish residents, expressed the feeling of betrayal felt by many of the settlers.

“Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu misled us. He misled half a million residents of the area and hundreds of thousands of voters. Mister prime minister, you betrayed my trust and the trust of the residents of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan valley in you, and you sold us lies for a year,” he said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

“Do not expect us to keep quiet. Don’t tell us that there will be sovereignty in a few months. The trust in you is gone.”