The Abraham Accords

The Gulf States, Israel, and the Limits of Normalization

Elham Fakhro

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English

Columbia University Press
05 December 2024

History; Politics & government

In August 2020, Donald Trump announced that his administration had brokered a groundbreaking treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the first normalization agreement between Israel and an Arab state in more than twenty years. Soon afterward, Bahrain joined the agreements, known as the Abraham Accords. How were these treaties achieved, and why did the parties involved see normalization as in their interest? In what ways have the accords altered the Middle East's political landscape, and how have they affected the question of Palestine?

This book is a groundbreaking in-depth analysis of the Abraham Accords, shedding new light on their causes and consequences. Elham Fakhro demonstrates how shared security concerns, economic interests, and regional political shockwaves led to a surprising strategic convergence between the Gulf states and Israel, setting the stage for covert relations to come out into the open. She examines the role of the Trump administration in negotiating the agreements and shows how the UAE and Bahrain have instrumentalized the accords to burnish their reputations in Western capitals. Fakhro underscores how Washington's Middle East policy shifted toward expanding the agreements at the expense of attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict-with profound costs. Offering a critical lens on a much-hailed agreement, this book argues that the pursuit of normalization in isolation from a lasting solution to the conflict has entrenched the conditions that continually plunge the Middle East into crisis.

By: Elham Fakhro
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm,
ISBN: 9780231212380
ISBN 10: 0231212380
Pages: 360
Publication Date: 05 December 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface Introduction 1. A Promised Land 2. A New Generation of Gulf Leaders 3. The Trump Administration 4. A New Relationship 5. Tolerance-Washing 6. Peace and Its Discontents Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Elham Fakhro is a research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter and an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. She was previously a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group and a lecturer at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Reviews for The Abraham Accords: The Gulf States, Israel, and the Limits of Normalization

The Abraham Accords were a watershed moment in Middle East politics. Elham Fakhro’s well-researched book provides a much-needed, comprehensive account of the origins of the accords, how they were negotiated, and their legacy. Clear, insightful, and timely, this is a must-read book for scholars and policymakers interested in the Middle East today. -- Vali Nasr, Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University Deeply researched, meticulously documented, cogently argued, and studded with original detail, this book sheds fascinating light on the complex and changing geopolitics of Israel and the Gulf. -- Avi Shlaim, author of <i>The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World</i> The Abraham Accords offers the first serious academic analysis of the efforts to promote normalization between Arab states and Israel, using wide-ranging interviews and acute analytical insights to shed light on a central but often misunderstood process in contemporary Middle East politics. -- Marc Lynch, author of <i>The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East</i> While studies of the Abraham Accords abound, few, if any, have critiqued them from the perspective of the Gulf signatories: the UAE and Bahrain. Taking this as her starting point, Fakhro challenges the efficacy of the accords as the basis for a new regional order that, at its core, denies agency to the Palestinians. Crisp in analysis, bold in argument, yet accessible in style, this innovative study will be essential reading for those wishing to understand how normalization between Israeli and Arab elites, the very premise of the Abraham Accords, is really seen across much of the Middle East. -- Clive Jones, Durham University and NTNU Norway