(i24) Normalization without addressing the Palestinian issue risked further conflict, officials warned
The United States’ Department for Homeland Security (DHS) warned that the Abraham Accords could fuel further conflict in the Middle East, shortly after the landmark deal was signed in 2020.
In a Wednesday report, The Intercept cited an official document titled “Terrorists’ Longstanding Grievances Very Likely Exacerbated by Israel’s Normalization of Relations with Two Gulf States.”
The US-brokered Abraham Accords – spearheaded by former US president Donald Trump – were an August 2020 joint agreement between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to normalize relations, with Sudan and Morocco later included.
“FTO (Foreign Terror Organizations) supporters’ pre-existing grievances about US foreign policy regarding the Middle East, such as viewing the United States as responsible for Israeli actions, will be exacerbated by Israel’s normalization of relations with Bahrain and the UAE,” the intel report read.
According to DHS officials, newly-formed ties with prior foes were not the primary risk of the accords, but instead the establishment of ties without addressing the Palestinian issue.
“FTOs could leverage… anti-US grievances to fit their longstanding messaging themes, portraying the United States as a principal antagonist in the Middle East,” the report continued.
It noted that “retaliatory violence” towards the US could be triggered, citing how Iran has compared racial tensions inside the US as evidence that it supports Israel in the Palestinian conflict.
Nearly two years after the implementation of the Abraham Accords, tensions between Israel and Palestinians did rise, with the 11-day war between Gaza’s Hamas and Israel last year, an increase of terrorist attacks, and clashes at Jerusalem’s holy basin.
