Benjamin Netanyahu applauds economic relationships with UAE after Abraham Accord

Peace accord changed the region in a positive way, Israel’s Prime Minister told Davos forum

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, speaks to Donald Trump, US president at the time, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office in September 2020. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, meets Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state at the time. Wam

Sheikh Abdullah and Mr Pompeo in Washington. Wam

Sheikh Abdullah visits Washington in September last year. Wam

Sheikh Abdullah, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, US President Donald Trump, centre, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sign the Abraham Accord at the White House South Lawn. MOFAIC

Sheikh Abdullah and, from left, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump at the White House. MOFAIC

Sheikh Abdullah, Mr Al Zayani and Mr Netanyahu at the White House during the Abraham Accord signing ceremony. MOFAIC

Sheikh Abdullah and, from left, Mr Netanyahu, Mr Trump and Mr Al Zayani wave from the Truman Balcony at the White House. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah and, from left, Mr Al Zayani, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Trump sign the Abraham Accord. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah and, from left, Mr Al Zayani, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Trump after the signing ceremony. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah and, from left, Mr Al Zayani, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Trump after the signing ceremony. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah speaks from the Truman Balcony at the White House during the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accord. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah speaks as Mr Trump looks on before the signing of Abraham Accord on the South Lawn of the White House. AP

Sheikh Abdullah looks on from the White House as Mr Trump speaks at the Abraham Accord signing ceremony, also attended by Mr Al Zayani and Mr Netanyahu. AP

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani stand on the Blue Room Balcony during the signing ceremony. AP

Sheikh Abdullah and Mr Al Zayani shortly before participating in the signing of the Abraham Accord. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah, with Mr Netanyahu, left, and Mr Al Zayani at the signing of the Abraham Accord on the South Lawn of the White House. AFP

US President Donald Trump speaks from the Truman Balcony at the White House during the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accord. AFP

President Donald Trump walks to the Abraham Accord signing ceremony at the White House with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani. AP

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at the White House to attend the Abraham Accord signing ceremony hosted by President Donald Trump. EPA

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, meets US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House before the signing of Abraham Accord. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, in the Oval Office. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, meets US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah with Mr Trump in the Oval Office. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, with by President Donald Trump at the White House. Mustafa Alrawi / The National

The UAE delegation led by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, with US President Donald Trump at the White House. Mustafa Alrawi / The National

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, is welcomed to the White House by US President Donald Trump. EPA

Sheikh Abdullah and Mr Trump outside the White House. AFP

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed speaks to Mr Trump after arriving at the White House. Reuters

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner walks away following a television interview on the North Lawn at the White House in Washington. Reuters

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcome the arrival of Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington DC. AFP

A delegation of senior UAE officials led by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, prepares to depart for the White House to sign the Abraham Accord. MOFAIC

US President Donald Trump welcomes Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani. AFP

Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani arrives at the White House in Washington DC. AFP

US President Donald Trump welcomes Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP

Preparations at the White House for the signing of the Abraham Accord.

Preparations under way at the White House for the signing of the Abraham Accord.

Preparations under way at the White House for the signing of the Abraham Accord.

Preparation at the White House for the signing of the Abraham Accord. The National

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Abraham Accord marked a "warm" peace with the UAE that had led to a surge in economic opportunities, as diplomats made the first moves towards restarting the stalled ­Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Addressing the World Economic Forum's Davos 2021 on Wednesday, he said agreements on normalisation of relations with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco would change the region in a positive way.
"Everyone in Israel is supremely delighted with the peace that we have," Mr Netanyahu said.

“It’s going to be great because the Emirates have proved to be – as I’ve always seen them – tremendously entrepreneurial, and they’re guided by a visionary leader [who] understands the power of innovation and the power to dare, to dream,” the veteran Israeli leader said in his virtual address.

Mr Netanyahu described a “new kind of peace that is changing relations between Israelis and Arabs, and I have to tell you, Arabs and Jews in Israel too. I means it’s unbelievable what this is doing.”

As the prime minister was speaking, officials in New York were briefed on new efforts to revive the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians by inviting Arab ministers to talks on the decades-old conflict with the UN, US and European Union in the coming months.

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters that Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain could join the Quartet format that has seen the US, EU, Russia and the UN attempt to broker agreements. The Arab representatives could be invited to a “Quartet plus” ministerial-level video conference in the late spring or early summer.

Mr Polyanskiy described an opportunity for renewed diplomacy after “encouraging initial signals” from US President Joe Biden, who has quickly distanced himself from the previous Trump administration’s deal-making, which favoured Israel and was rejected by Palestinians.

“Now we see some encouraging signals from the new administration that would be more devoted to collective efforts and formats

At the Davos meeting, the  Israeli leader also spoke about Covid-19 pandemic and the vaccination drive that has seen Israel and the UAE emerge as global leaders.  Israel has inoculate more 30 per cent of its population of nine million with at least a first dose.

The UAE has distributed 27.07 doses per 100 people of its population – or 2.67 million.

"We're in an arms race, except it's not an arms race, it's a race between vaccination and [virus] mutations?," Mr Netanyahu said.
He told Davos that Israel had purchased lots of vaccines fast and hadn't quibbled about the cost.

But he added that the most pressing issue at the moment is what level of protection the vaccine would give to individuals and how successful it would be in preventing infection when the economy opened up.
"There are more mutations and there will be more mutations in the future. It means we have to race as fast as we can to vaccinate first the risk groups in the population and then everyone else in order to give immunity, and then probably expect the companies that are producing the vaccines at this point to modify their vaccines to accommodate mutations that they don't cover now as they develop, and then we'll have to purchase them.

“That's going to be our life for the coming years. I don’t think that we’re going to evade that, but we can overcome it."