hartung_24-25r.qxp_Special Report 2/3/22 1:27 PM Page 24
Special Report
As Congress Moves to Enshrine Abraham Accords, a Look at the Promised “Peace”
PHOTO BY GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By William Hartung
Israeli military equipment is displayed at the Israeli Pavilion at the Dubai Airshow in the Gulf emirate, on Nov. 14, 2021. A year after signing the Abraham Accords, Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems, Sinbad, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and other Israeli companies pitched their drones, drone domes, fighter aircraft, space‐based systems and other products to the public in the UAE‐based airshow. More than 80,000 visitors were expected to attend. THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS—an initiative that has normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan —was greeted with great fanfare when it was kicked off with its signing by Israel and the UAE in September 2020. The brainchild of then President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, it was billed as a novel approach to bringing peace and economic cooperation to the region while improving the conditions for Palestinians living in Israeli-occupied territories.
William D. Hartung is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His work focuses on the arms industry and the U.S. military budget. This article was first posted on <www.responsiblestatecraft.org>. Copyright ©2022 Quincy Insti‐ tute for Responsible Statecraft, Inc. Reprinted with permission. 24
Others, including this author, expressed concerns that the Accords might degenerate into a rationale for pouring more arms into the region in exchange for minimal or nonexistent benefits in fostering peace and stability in the Middle East and North Africa. And a New York Times Magazine piece now reports that “sales of Pegasus [spyware] played an unseen but critical role…in negotiating the Abraham Accords.” The sale has enhanced the UAE’s ability to monitor dissidents and human rights defenders at home and abroad. The Accords’ origins in the sale of weapons and tools of repression should give pause about their true value and intent. The future of the Accords has gained new relevance now that there is a move in Congress to enshrine them in U.S. law via the Israel Relations Normalization Act, or (IRNA), which could come up
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
MARCH/APRIL 2022
