Cabinet to vote on UAE peace agreement next week

The cabinet will hold a vote on Israel’s peace treaty with the United Arab Emirates on Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Monday.There has not been a full cabinet meeting since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from the signing ceremony at the White House, almost a month before the planned vote. The agreement is expected to get unanimous support from the ministers.Netanyahu promised Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi in September that the agreement would go to a cabinet vote. Though the Prime Minister’s Office said the agreement would also be brought to the Knesset, it is not yet on the legislature’s agenda.Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Zvi Hauser asked Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin to make sure that Netanyahu brings the agreements before the panel, so it can review all of the security ramifications of the agreement before it goes to a plenum vote.The seven-page “Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and The State of Israel” avoids any topics that may be controversial, such as a Palestinian state or American weapons sales to Abu Dhabi.The agreement has its signatories commit to “continuing their efforts to achieve a just, comprehensive, realistic and enduring solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” and to “working together to realize a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that meets the legitimate needs and aspirations of both peoples, and to advance comprehensive Middle East peace, stability and prosperity.”The agreement does not mention that Israel would be suspending its plans to extend sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria, though the original normalization announcement said that is the case.Also not mentioned in the agreement were any arms sales, including F-35 jets that the UAE seeks to purchase from the US. The Israeli position is that doing so would threaten its qualitative military edge in the Middle East, an advantage guaranteed under US law. The US has said they would like to sell the warplanes while finding a way to maintain Israel’s advantage.The document also emphasizes interfaith tolerance in the Middle East.The treaty says that the parties are “Recognizing that the Arab and Jewish peoples are descendants of a common ancestor, Abraham, and inspired, in that spirit, to foster in the Middle East a reality in which Muslims, Jews, Christians and peoples of all faiths, denominations, beliefs and nationalities live in, and are committed to, a spirit of coexistence, mutual understanding and mutual respect.”The sides agreed to establishing peace, diplomatic relations and normalization, to exchanging ambassadors and opening embassies, and cooperating in various spheres, including finance and investment, civil aviation, consular services, innovation trade and economic relations, healthcare, science, technology and “peaceful uses of outer space,” education and more.As for Netanyahu’s commitment to bring the matter to the government and Knesset, the treaty states that it “shall be ratified by both parties as soon as practicable in conformity with their respective national procedures and will enter into force following the exchange of instruments of ratification.”
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