Israeli, U.S. officials land in UAE, Kushner urges Palestinians to negotiate

[webfact]

Israeli, U.S. officials land in UAE, Kushner urges Palestinians to negotiate

By Dan Williams and Lisa Barrington

 

U.S. President's senior adviser Jared Kushner, U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien and Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat disembark a plane upon landing at Abu Dhabi International Airport, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates August 31, 2020. REUTERS/Christopher Pike

 

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Senior U.S. and Israeli officials landed in the United Arab Emirates on Monday on a historic trip to finalise a pact marking open relations between Israel and the Gulf state, and they told Palestinians it was now time for them to negotiate peace.

 

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner also said on arrival that Washington could help maintain Israel's military edge while advancing its ties to the UAE, the Arab world's second largest economy and a regional power.

 

Announced on Aug. 13, the normalisation deal is the first such accommodation between an Arab country and Israel in more than 20 years and was forged largely through shared fears of Iran.

 

Palestinians were dismayed by the UAE's move, seeing it as a betrayal that would weaken a long-standing pan-Arab position which calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries.

 

Kushner said Palestinians should not be "stuck in the past".

 

"They have to come to the table. Peace will be ready for them, an opportunity will be ready for them as soon as they are ready to embrace it," said Kushner, part of a U.S. delegation that accompanied Israeli officials on the first official Israeli flight from Tel Aviv to the UAE.

 

Kushner and national security adviser Robert O'Brien headed the U.S. delegation. The Israeli team was led by O'Brien's counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat.

 

Israel and the United Arab Emirates will discuss economic, scientific, trade and cultural cooperation on the visit. Direct flights between the two countries will also be on the agenda, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman told al Arabiya television after landing in Abu Dhabi.

 

An El Al Boeing 737 carrying senior U.S. and Israeli aides made aviation history by cutting straight over Saudi territory en route to Abu Dhabi on Monday for normalisation talks. Emer McCarthy reports.

 

"That's what peace for peace looks like," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, describing a deal for formal ties with an Arab state that does not entail handover of land that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

 

At a news conference in Jerusalem late on Monday, Netanyahu said: "It will be a warm peace because it will be based on cooperation in the realm of economics, with an entrepreneurial economy like ours, with vast economic capabilities, with big money looking for investment channels."

 

ARABIC GREETING

Even before landing, the delegates made aviation history when the Israeli commercial airliner flew over Saudi territory on the direct flight from Tel Aviv to the UAE capital.

 

Israeli officials hope the two-day trip will produce a date for a signing ceremony in Washington, perhaps as early as September, between Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

 

That could give U.S. President Donald Trump a foreign policy boost ahead of his re-election bid in November.

 

The Trump administration has tried to coax other Sunni Arab countries concerned about Iran to engage with Israel. The most powerful of those, Saudi Arabia, while opening its airspace to the El Al flight, has signalled it is not ready.

 

On board the packed airliner, passengers were welcomed in Arabic as well as English and Hebrew, a gesture marking the historic flight.

 

"Wishing us all salaam, peace and shalom, have a safe flight," the pilot, Captain Tal Becker, said on the intercom, in Arabic, English and Hebrew, using all three languages to also announce the flight number and destination.

 

Like all El Al 737s, the aircraft was equipped with an anti-missile system, an Israeli spokesman said, and carried security agents of the U.S. Secret Service and the Israeli Shin Bet.

 

Palestinian leaders expressed anger at a deal which they believe further erodes their struggle for an independent state.

 

"Peace is not an empty word used to normalize crimes and oppression. Peace is the outcome of justice," politician Saeb Erekat said in a Tweet.

 

"Peace is not made by denying Palestine’s right to exist and imposing an apartheid regime. Apartheid is what Netanyahu means by "peace for peace."

The Islamist Hamas group, which controls the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, also condemned the UAE.

 

The flight represents a "stab in the back of the Palestinian people, a prolonging of the occupation, and a betrayal of the resistance of the (Palestinian) people," Hamas said in a statement.

 

Hours before the plane landed, in apparently unrelated incidents that authorities attributed to gas malfunctions, three people were killed and several others were injured in two separate explosions in Abu Dhabi and UAE tourism hub Dubai, police and local media said.

 

The Abu Dhabi government media office said two people were killed in the blast in the capital, which the National daily reported hit KFC and Hardee's restaurants, located on a main road leading to the airport.

 

In the second incident, one person was killed when a gas cylinder exploded in a Dubai restaurant, local media reported.

 

(Reporting by Dan Williams and Jeffrey Heller; Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub, Ari Rabinovitch and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Dan Williams and Jeffrey Heller; Editing by William Maclean and Gareth Jones)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-01

 

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[ezzra]

For the Palestinians, nothing short of seeing every Jew/Israeli dead or leaving their land and gone forever, will please them, and even than they will continue to blame the jews for their miserable existence living on donations for the last 7 decades, that is the nature of losers, being forever losers..

[Pattaya Spotter]

They won't...much more fashionable to be victims of Jewish colonialism and racism (even thou they're both Semitic people)...the only problem is you can't eat it.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Pattaya Spotter

[Proboscis]

Asking for a person or people to negotiate when you have taken away from the table everything they could negotiate for is not a negotiation.

[Thorgal]

Negotiations?

Palestinians don’t want to be screwed again.

Emiratis don’t realise that they’re going to be screwed sooner or later...

The Principle of the Devided Cloth has been arranged between Israel and the US long time ago.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Thorgal

[Morch]

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

For the Palestinians, nothing short of seeing every Jew/Israeli dead or leaving their land and gone forever, will please them, and even than they will continue to blame the jews for their miserable existence living on donations for the last 7 decades, that is the nature of losers, being forever losers..

 

2 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

They won't...much more fashionable to be victims of Jewish colonialism and racism (even thou they're both Semitic people)...the only problem is you can't eat it.

 

Both of you are invested in presenting an extreme version of Palestinian positions. Granted, the general trend is indeed hostile to Israel and even its very existence. But painting it as the only show in town is incorrect or uninformed.

 

Saying that the Palestinians' choice of ways to deal with their predicament was a bad one, or at least, not a constructive one, is not quite the same thing.

[Morch]

1 hour ago, Proboscis said:

Asking for a person or people to negotiate when you have taken away from the table everything they could negotiate for is not a negotiation.

 

There's that. And then there's knowing when to cut losses, come to terms with reality and so on. While the Trump administration's "offer" obviously fell short of being a credible or acceptable one, it might still have benefited the Palestinians to avoid the usual rejectionism, which brought them practically no results up to now.

 

The taking away from the table bit (with regard to Kushner's plan) was greatly "assisted" by the Palestinians cutting contact and refusing to discuss anything.

[Morch]

1 hour ago, Thorgal said:

Negotiations?

Palestinians don’t want to be screwed again.

Emiratis don’t realise that they’re going to be screwed sooner or later...

The Principle of the Devided Cloth has been arranged between Israel and the US long time ago.

 

Screwed again how? Did the Palestinians achieve anything other than by way of negotiation? What, if any, is the alternative to negotiation?

 

Kinda doubt the UAE is going to be "screwed", and your post is, as usual, heavy on insinuations and light on facts, so can't tell what you meant. As for implying vague conspiracies, well....that's what you do, innit?

[Grusa]

A plague on all your houses!

 

Until everyone, and I mean everyone, renounces their belief in and dependence on an imaginary deity, and its delusional prophets/priests/gurus/institutional organisations, the World will never be at peace.

[Pattaya Spotter]

49 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

 

Both of you are invested in presenting an extreme version of Palestinian positions. Granted, the general trend is indeed hostile to Israel and even its very existence. But painting it as the only show in town is incorrect or uninformed.

 

Saying that the Palestinians' choice of ways to deal with their predicament was a bad one, or at least, not a constructive one, is not quite the same thing.

Has the Palestinian Authority ever repealed the provisions of the Palestinian Charter calling for the destruction of Israel...I'm surprised the Jews would offer anything to people calling for their death.

[Morch]

5 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Has the Palestinian Authority ever repealed the provisions of the Palestinian Charter calling for the destruction of Israel...I'm surprised the Jews would offer anything to people calling for their death.

 

They have and they haven't, as with many such things. You're welcome to look up my older posts, where the chain of events is minutely detailed. Other than that, similar issues can be found with the Israeli side's actions as well. If the point was that one side is all up for it and the other isn't, that's patently untrue.

[Pattaya Spotter]

8 minutes ago, Morch said:

They have and they haven't

Is that like being only a little bit pregnant?

[Morch]

10 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Is that like being only a little bit pregnant?

 

Kinda. But as said, you could find such instances on either side of the fence. Promises made, then shrug off, ignored, transferred to a committee, pending vote, or whatever. None of the agreements signed was done so in good faith or with a true wish to reconcile. More like construct of necessity, which either side tries to wiggle out from to best ability - without calling the whole things off.

[Pattaya Spotter]

24 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Kinda. But as said, you could find such instances on either side of the fence. Promises made, then shrug off, ignored, transferred to a committee, pending vote, or whatever. None of the agreements signed was done so in good faith or with a true wish to reconcile. More like construct of necessity, which either side tries to wiggle out from to best ability - without calling the whole things off.

Israel is now one of the most advanced and prosperous states in the Middle East...and the Palestinians have had 70 years to come to terms and make peace and join with it on the road to development. Instead they chose to follow flawed leaders who led them down the path of violence and rejection of the Jewish state; just think where they would be if they had chosen peace (like Egypt, Jordan, and now the UAE) 20...40...or 60 years ago. Instead, they find themselves living in poverty among bombed-out homes and denuded farms in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

[Morch]

1 hour ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Israel is now one of the most advanced and prosperous states in the Middle East...and the Palestinians have had 70 years to come to terms and make peace and join with it on the road to development. Instead they chose to follow flawed leaders who led them down the path of violence and rejection of the Jewish state; just think where they would be if they had chosen peace (like Egypt, Jordan, and now the UAE) 20...40...or 60 years ago. Instead, they find themselves living in poverty among bombed-out homes and denuded farms in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

 

Yeah, you're barking up the wrong tree there. I'm not completely disagreeing with this take on Palestinian choices etc., just saying that these don't wash away stuff Israel did, or make the Kushner plan any more acceptable by any measure.

 

Back to the topic at hand, seems that at least part of the backdrop was the sale of advanced weapon systems to the UAE (F-35 aircraft, mostly). Past USA administrations held to a policy assuring the Israeli's military technology edge over neighbors. The UAE deal (or  request) was in the works for a while now, but went nowhere, probably due to Israel's objections (and possibly USA worries about tech leaks). Somehow, that's suddenly a thing again - despite Israel's Netanyahu trying to deny it. I don't know if it was some sort of trap sprung on him by the administration, or if he gave his consent prior to setting things in motion. So what we have here is two interesting developments - relations between an Arab country and Israel in which the Palestinian issue doesn't play the central role, and a breakaway from a long held security policy by the USA.

[Pattaya Spotter]

2 hours ago, Morch said:

 

Yeah, you're barking up the wrong tree there. I'm not completely disagreeing with this take on Palestinian choices etc., just saying that these don't wash away stuff Israel did, or make the Kushner plan any more acceptable by any measure.

 

Back to the topic at hand, seems that at least part of the backdrop was the sale of advanced weapon systems to the UAE (F-35 aircraft, mostly). Past USA administrations held to a policy assuring the Israeli's military technology edge over neighbors. The UAE deal (or  request) was in the works for a while now, but went nowhere, probably due to Israel's objections (and possibly USA worries about tech leaks). Somehow, that's suddenly a thing again - despite Israel's Netanyahu trying to deny it. I don't know if it was some sort of trap sprung on him by the administration, or if he gave his consent prior to setting things in motion. So what we have here is two interesting developments - relations between an Arab country and Israel in which the Palestinian issue doesn't play the central role, and a breakaway from a long held security policy by the USA.

Purchases of expensive US weapons systems by the rich sheikhdoms of the Gulf are protection payments to their patron, the United States. They have no capacity to integrate these advanced systems into their militaries, nor the capacity to maintain them. After a few years sitting out in desert, most are ready for the scrap heap. The aircraft, radar, and missiles sold in the Gulf are also usually "de-tuned" so as to make them less of a threat to the Israelis. I support the proposed military hardware sales to the UAE as payment for services rendered and good for American workers. 

 

[CanadaSam]

7 hours ago, Grusa said:

A plague on all your houses!

 

Until everyone, and I mean everyone, renounces their belief in and dependence on an imaginary deity, and its delusional prophets/priests/gurus/institutional organisations, the World will never be at peace.

 

And if there's no deity, who do you think will send this "plague"?

[Morch]

52 minutes ago, CanadaSam said:

 

And if there's no deity, who do you think will send this "plague"?

 

Apparently a lab somewhere....

[Scott]

Racist post reported and removed.  

 

[Morch]

1 hour ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Purchases of expensive US weapons systems by the rich sheikhdoms of the Gulf are protection payments to their patron, the United States. They have no capacity to integrate these advanced systems into their militaries, nor the capacity to maintain them. After a few years sitting out in desert, most are ready for the scrap heap. The aircraft, radar, and missiles sold in the Gulf are also usually "de-tuned" so as to make them less of a threat to the Israelis. I support the proposed military hardware sales to the UAE as payment for services rendered and good for American workers. 

 

 

I've no idea what you base your comments on, reality is somewhat different. Yes, USA weapon systems sold to Arab countries are usually of (but not always) a somewhat downgraded (or not fully upgraded, depending on sales pitch) version, model or bloc. That's in line with the policy mentioned earlier. I don't know if this applies (or even can be applied) to the F-35 sale, though. 

 

The views expressed about system integration, maintenance and operational capability were far more accurate in the past. Nowadays, perhaps less so. Some regional air forces got extra operational experience, train and work closer with USA forces, and enough funds to cover many maintenance issues. As an aside, this story seems somewhat relevant and amusing - https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-advanced-israel-fighter-jets-damaged-in-massive-floods-air-force-f16-1.8385358

 

Payment for services made is alright, but in the context of my post, a deflection. Because spin as you like, it does not seat well with the usual policy, nor is it clear whether the Israeli Prime Minister was surprised or coerced in this case. It might very well be a USA interest served, and that's fine. Painting the Trump administration as unconditionally aligned with Israel, maybe less so.

 

[Pattaya Spotter]

2 hours ago, Morch said:

 

I've no idea what you base your comments on, reality is somewhat different. Yes, USA weapon systems sold to Arab countries are usually of (but not always) a somewhat downgraded (or not fully upgraded, depending on sales pitch) version, model or bloc. That's in line with the policy mentioned earlier. I don't know if this applies (or even can be applied) to the F-35 sale, though. 

 

The views expressed about system integration, maintenance and operational capability were far more accurate in the past. Nowadays, perhaps less so. Some regional air forces got extra operational experience, train and work closer with USA forces, and enough funds to cover many maintenance issues. As an aside, this story seems somewhat relevant and amusing - https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-advanced-israel-fighter-jets-damaged-in-massive-floods-air-force-f16-1.8385358

 

Payment for services made is alright, but in the context of my post, a deflection. Because spin as you like, it does not seat well with the usual policy, nor is it clear whether the Israeli Prime Minister was surprised or coerced in this case. It might very well be a USA interest served, and that's fine. Painting the Trump administration as unconditionally aligned with Israel, maybe less so.

 

De-tuning an F35 is easiest of all...like a Tesla, its capabiliies are all software controlled. Enabling or disabling blocks of code (even if the hardware is present) controls the capability of the aircraft.

[Morch]

20 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

De-tuning an F35 is easiest of all...like a Tesla, its capabiliies are all software controlled. Enabling or disabling blocks of code (even if the hardware is present) controls the capability of the aircraft.

 

Ok, this is off topic but whatever.

So, no, not really. That was one of the sales pitches from the manufacturer, an easy way of either adjusting the aircraft capabilities, or converting it to different mission profiles/roles. For one thing, there quite a few functions and capabilities which cannot be turned off, and even so, the hardware itself is quite impressive. Even if taking the above version, it would essentially mean that the USA can, at any time, "upgrade" the aircraft afterwards, with or without letting the Israelis know.

 

But again, you continue to deflect or wander off topic, avoiding anything that might not fit you perfect Trump world view.

 

 

 

[Pattaya Spotter]

46 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Ok, this is off topic but whatever.

So, no, not really. That was one of the sales pitches from the manufacturer, an easy way of either adjusting the aircraft capabilities, or converting it to different mission profiles/roles. For one thing, there quite a few functions and capabilities which cannot be turned off, and even so, the hardware itself is quite impressive. Even if taking the above version, it would essentially mean that the USA can, at any time, "upgrade" the aircraft afterwards, with or without letting the Israelis know.

 

But again, you continue to deflect or wander off topic, avoiding anything that might not fit you perfect Trump world view.

 

 

 

I said in my initial post on this thread it was a good thing the UAE and Isreal are publicly working towards normalized relations, and that it was unlikely the Palestinians would take this opportunity to rethink their rejectionist position. It's not a "Trump world" thing...it's my own opinion. I've gone off topic a bit to widen the conversation because the main topic was pretty much covered in my first couple posts. I'll add that probably with a year or two, the remainder of the gulf Arab states (excluding Yemen), and possibly Morocco will establish formal ties with Isreal and the Palestinians will find themselves more out in the cold than ever.

[Grusa]

15 hours ago, CanadaSam said:

 

And if there's no deity, who do you think will send this "plague"?

By some peoples thinking, the Chinese just tried!

[Morch]

15 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I said in my initial post on this thread it was a good thing the UAE and Isreal are publicly working towards normalized relations, and that it was unlikely the Palestinians would take this opportunity to rethink their rejectionist position. It's not a "Trump world" thing...it's my own opinion. I've gone off topic a bit to widen the conversation because the main topic was pretty much covered in my first couple posts. I'll add that probably with a year or two, the remainder of the gulf Arab states (excluding Yemen), and possibly Morocco will establish formal ties with Isreal and the Palestinians will find themselves more out in the cold than ever.

 

Your initial post on this thread is about the Palestinians, neither Israel or the UAE mentioned.

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1180371-israeli-us-officials-land-in uae-kushner-urges-palestinians-to-negotiate/?tab=comments#comment-15768362

 

The Trump thing is when issues are given attention only insomuch as they relate or involve Trump, and that whatever the facts are, either Trump team painted in best colors or and the opposite for any views or sides not aligned with it.

 

There is a possibility that more Arab/Muslim countries would normalize relations with Israel in the near future. And that's a good thing. But there are at least three issues which cannot be glossed over even if such developments occur. First, each instance comes with price tags (in this case, annexation off the table, and the UAE gets top notch military hardware). Second, the stability of normalized relationship is dependent on the USA remaining involved, and on Israel's policy toward the Palestinians. Third, relations with various Arab/Muslim countries will not, by themselves, solve Israel's issues with the Palestinians.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Morch

[Seagull Sam]

On 8/31/2020 at 10:20 PM, webfact said:

Peace is not an empty word used to normalize crimes and oppression. Peace is the outcome of justice

Nothing more needs saying