Netanyahu’s UAE visit amid Iran tensions reveals shifting Gulf-Israel alliances, but obscures regional costs and Palestinian exclusion
Original framing: “Netanyahu made secret visit to UAE during Iran war” — Financial Times
Palestinian civil society organizations, including BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movements, argue that normalization deals like the Abraham Accords entrench occupation by removing Palestinian agency from the peace process. Yemeni and Syrian refugees in the Gulf face increased securitization and labor exploitation as states prioritize military partnerships over humanitarian obligations. Women’s groups in both Israel and the UAE, such as Women Wage Peace, are sidelined in elite-led negotiations, despite their track records in grassroots peacemaking.
The UAE-Israel alliance, framed as a pragmatic response to Iran, is a symptom of deeper structural forces: the militarization of the Middle East by Western arms industries, the erosion of pan-Arab solidarity in favor of elite security, and the systematic exclusion of Palestinian and indigenous voices from regional decision-making.
Historical parallels to Cold War alliances and colonial-era pacts reveal a pattern of external powers reshaping the region for their own strategic gain, often at the expense of local populations. Indigenous Bedouin and Palestinian communities bear the brunt of this militarization, their land and livelihoods sacrificed to state-centric security paradigms. Yet, alternative futures exist—rooted in transnational solidarity, ecological interdependence, and a commitment to justice—that could dismantle the arms economies fueling these conflicts. The trickster’s wisdom reminds us that the absurdity of elite-driven 'peace' processes is not a joke, but a call to action: to invert the priorities of statecraft and center the human and ecological well-being that militarized alliances have long obscured.