Rabat – The Abraham Accords are “losing their luster,” due to increasing Israeli hostility to Palestinians, writes veteran regional journalist Ben Lynfield in a new piece in Foreign Policy.
Two years after their signing, hailed as a harbinger of peace in the region, the accords have become little but a trade agreement between its signees according to Lynfield. Violence against Palestinians has reached a new peak, already making 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank in 7 years.
Lynfield pointed to Haaretz reporting that highlighted that 81 Palestinians have been killed due to the Israeli army’s “increasing arrest operations in the West Bank in 2022.” His analysis in Foreign Policy quotes former Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Liel as emphasizing that “with unprecedented diplomatic capabilities, Israel could have said, ‘Let’s be generous [to the Palestinians],’ but instead it said, ‘We can do whatever suits us.”
“Rather than becoming more open to Arabs,” Lynfield writes, “Israeli chauvinism is increasing; far-right politicians who advocate the expulsion of Arabs are becoming mainstream.”
The increasingly deadly violence against Palestinians is part of an Israeli shift to the right over the past years, which has undermined any of the Abraham Accords much-touted lofty ideals.
The accords, whose text speaks of advancing “the interests of lasting peace in the Middle East and around the world,” have become little more than a trade deal “due in part to Israel’s growing image as a hostile place for Arabs, with a relentless political shift to the right and growing pressure on Palestinians,” Lynfield analyzes.
Having considerably failed to live up to their signee’s expectations, writes the former Jerusalem Post reporter, the accords have become a free trade agreement and a means for Israeli tourists to visit the countries who have signed up to the accords. While Israeli tourists have flocked to especially the UAE and Morocco, few have returned the favor, “only 3,600 tourists from the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco have visited Israel since March,” Lynfield highlights.
