On 23 Dec 2020 Benjamin Barthe of Le Monde, the French daily, exposed a nexus between Israel and United Arab Emirates to progressively and systematically finish UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency). UNRWA is the biggest welfare body for war torn and besieged Palestinians on the globe.

Its effectiveness primarily depends upon financial assistance from donor countries.

In 2018, UNWRA received $53 million from UAE, however after normalization of relations with Israel, the gulf nation gave a donation of $1 million only (reported initially by Israel research institute Centre for Near East Policy). It might have been taken as a coincidence or shrunken economy, albeit COVID, however the same thing happened when another gulf country in Bahrain which has recently normalized its ties with Israel also drastically reduced its donations to UNWRA.

Normalization of relations with Israel was one thing, however clinical apartheid of Palestine is altogether a different situation. It is now becoming more and more evident that “Abraham Accord” was not meant to recognize Israel. It was probably meant to dismantle Palestine. 

The recent surge in build-up of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza by Israel, blatantly defining all UN/EU resolutions, especially in the aftermath of normalization of relations with Arab countries signifies more than what meets the eye.

The plight of Palestinians is increasing day by day. Their whole economic structure, food supply, education for the children, health care is predominantly depended on aid from international donors which is continually on the decrease since the last couple of months.

In another welcome development African leaders re-affirmed in their 34th African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa that all Israeli settlements erected on occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem and Golan Heights are illegal. Despite Israeli effects to lure these economically poor countries to co-opt for Israel, they stood for the moral/ethical stance of Palestinians.

The unabated atrocities and human right abuses on the besieged Palestine in Gaza and West Bank, though have not created any ripples in the Islamic World, however on 5th Feb 2021 the International Criminal Court in The Hague has finally approved opening legal proceedings regarding war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza. Since 2019 Israel and its Western Allies were constantly trying to block ICC to initiate any criminal proceedings against Israeli officials however again somewhere, someone’s morality and code of ethics for doing the right thing has enabled ICC to reach the decision.

In the world of international diplomacy “faith” and “ideology” may sound too unimpressive and old fashioned whilst making any policy or alliances, however history has taught us that cornerstone of any dependable and lasting alliance among nations stems from equitable core values, and deep rooted faith in each other’s ideology rather than short term financial/political gains.