There was a time in the United Arab Emirates when the depiction of the Star of David on a t-shirt sold in local markets could prompt investigations by officials charged with policing the country’s boycott of Israel.
But much has changed since then. Nearly two years ago, the UAE formally ended its near-half-century boycott, and on Tuesday, it became the first Arab country to sign a free trade agreement with the Jewish state. The pact was described by UAE trade minister Thani Al Zeyoudi as “a new chapter in the history of the Middle East.”
If trade is a barometer of how serious the UAE is about its nascent partnership with Israel, then the numbers speak for themselves. The agreement would lift trade between the two nations to more than $10 billion within five years, from what Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics says was about $1.2 billion last year.
The Gulf nation had also allocated $10 billion for investments in Israel last year, singling it out as one of its main future economic partners along with seven other nations as the focus of its foreign policy shifts to business.
Experts say that the prize for Israel is much bigger than the population of roughly 10 million the Gulf nation offers, because the deal could open up access to the broader Middle East that it hasn’t been able to tap yet.
Here’s what you need to know about the pact and UAE-Israeli trade:
