The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday for an official visit to Israel, marking two years since the countries signed the so-called Abraham Accords.
The U.S.-brokered agreements have ushered in public rapprochements between Israel and several Arab states, with the UAE and Bahrain the first to sign the accords with Israel in September 2020, at the White House.
Both the Emirati and Israeli leaderships have welcomed the Abraham Accords and presented the diplomatic achievement to their citizens as a powerful political tool that would allow the two countries to better deliver on their national priorities. Although the normalisation deal has brought about unprecedented opportunities for cooperation between the UAE and Israel during the past two years, differences in their strategic interests have come to the surface and slowed down the initial momentum.
Image Credit: Shlomi Amsalem/Government Press Office
