Could the uae agreement lead israel to restart the peace process? | thearticle

When Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, my private office always approached holiday periods with a degree of well-founded scepticism, knowing firstly that I would never be off

duty, and secondly that something would inevitably happen which would demand Ministerial attention. We would all speculate — sometimes accurately, sometimes wildly — where and what the event

would be that would bring us rushing back to our desks. This summer we would have given good odds that Lebanon would require a Ministerial call back, though we would not have guessed the

precise event. I watched the videos of the catastrophic explosion with a similar sense of horror to the television coverage of 9/11, the live impact of which has never left me. I have been

to Beirut countless times since 2010. I have seen the recovery of the centre of the city from the rubble of the civil war years before, and like many others marvelled on the resilience of

the Lebanese people who had borne so much grief. When the Syrian conflict began, I was fearful that Lebanon would be sucked into the war. That has not happened, despite Hezbollah incursions

at crucial times to aid the Assad regime. However the flow of refugees — 1.5 million —has been daunting. Perhaps a quarter of Lebanons population is made up of those refugees, adding to the

500,000 Palestinians. Trust me, the UK has absolutely no experience whatsoever of a “refugee crisis”. The patience and generosity of the Lebanese has been remarkable. But, as we found out on

August 4th, that famed resilience was illusory. For too long, it had covered up a corrupt governance system, in which a structure designed to ensure that sectarian communities would share

power, and avoid the conflicts of the past, was systematically plundered. All that’s left is a shell, further fatally wounded by its most sizeable component, the terrorist aligned Hezbollah,

which owes allegiance more to Tehran than to the people of Beirut. The international community, including the UK, will be swift and generous with support to clear up the devastation — but

we are powerless to assist in the politics. The UK attended countless conferences where support for Lebanon was, rightly, declared to be conditional on the reforms of the economy and

combatting corruption. But those reforms never happened. That determination can only come from within, and the spectre of external interference can no longer be left unchallenged. The

bravery of the Lebanese people in removing their Government deserves a better future; we have not heard the last of this, and I am sure the UK will remain seriously engaged. However, the

agreement between the UAE and Israel was a rank outsider. Its ramifications are immense. “Normalisation” of relationships between Arab states and Israel makes perfect sense, especially to

those who support Israel and can see how its economy would significantly impact the region for the better. But such normalisation has always been predicated on a resolution of the

relationship between Israel and an anticipated State of Palestine. Readers need no long explanation of the fraught nature of negotiations to deliver a such resolution, or the blame each

attaches to the other, or the frustrations of failure, despite immense efforts from serious US envoys of the past, and the present UN Special Envoy, Nickolay Mladenov. The new UAE agreement

breaks this assumption, and the success or otherwise of it depends on what happens next. The UAE is clear, and brave to say so, that the agreement stops the annexation of territory proposed

by Israel as part of the plan announced in Washington in January. Israel is more circumspect, speaking only of a “delay”. Such ambiguity must be resolved, but either way, uncomfortable

though the agreement is for many, it provides a new reality which cannot be wished away. If the agreement leads to a refreshed look at a stalled Middle East Peace Process, which will remain

essential if further “normalisation” is to be accepted by a sceptical Arab world, then it will be of immense value. I remain a believer in a two state solution, a just agreement for the

Palestinian people, and a secure, recognised Israel, as I have done for forty years. The Trump plan of January 2020 wasn’t going to work. Annexation isn’t going to work, and a resistance to

negotiations by the Palestinian leadership will only hold back prospects for the growing population of young people in the region. There have always been a hundred ways to say “No”. Genuine

ways to trigger “Yes” are worth trying.