By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-11-07

DUBAI -- Middle East powers should maintain their push to de-escalate the region through trade and economic ties despite the Israel-Hamas war, a senior United Arab Emirates (UAE) official said November 4.

The sudden flare-up in Gaza, after a deadly terrorist attack by Hamas, follows a period of fence-mending in the region including by the UAE and its neighboring fellow oil giant, Saudi Arabia.

According to UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash, countries should maintain that strategy even though the war is sending shockwaves through the region.

"National actors are basically trying to use economics as a way to de-escalate tension," Gargash told the World Policy Conference in Abu Dhabi.

"I think there is no reason why we should also veer away from that course of action."

Gargash said the war demonstrated that the UAE and others still had to "work together with other regional actors in order to ensure that regional stability is guaranteed."

"But I think the other message is also (that) national plans have to move on. I don't think that national plans have to be on pause, because there will always be a major regional issue that will surprise us," he said.

Need to move forward

The UAE and Bahrain, along with Morocco and Sudan, broke with the long-standing Arab consensus to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

The UAE was the first Gulf state to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.

Saudi Arabia was in talks over a potential normalization with Israel before the current war broke out.

The ongoing Israel-Hamas war has put Gulf states that have normalized relations with Israel in a difficult position, as they weigh support for Israel with pro-Palestinian public opinion.

But many say the normalization accords are a necessity for the establishment of permanent peace in the Middle East and as a shield against Iranian threats.

"Saudi Arabia continues to have an interest in exploring a broader deal with the United States as part of the potential to normalize a relationship with Israel that involves security arrangements and assurances from the United States toward Saudi Arabia," Middle East Institute senior fellow Firas Maksad told Al-Monitor.

"Perhaps that is currently delayed. It is not completely off."

For the wealthy Gulf countries, the diplomatic and trade drive is part of plans to reduce economic dependence on oil ahead of an expected drop in demand as the world turns to other fuels.

Seeking balance

The ongoing war erupted when Hamas terrorists crossed from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 200 hostage.

"Many who call for a pause on all national issues, national programs, because of a crisis as colossal as we are seeing and its different dimensions, I think that is not advice that is correct," Gargash said.

"But many also come and say let's just move on with our regional, our national projects and national plans of investment and economy and revitalising our economies."

"I think that balance of looking at what I would call the future is important, but at the same time dealing with the demons of the region, dealing with the demons of the past," he said.

What is happening in Gaza "delays the normalization process in the region but should not stop it," economic writer Antoine Farah told Al-Fassel.

"The normalization process must move forward, and the tragedy of this war may be an incentive to provide opportunities for a comprehensive peace in the region that is in the interest of all peoples," he said.