Regarding the so-called Abraham Accords, which have served to “normalise” relations between Israel and four Arab states, your Middle East editor Andrew England concludes that US President Donald Trump, their principal broker, is eager to expand on that foreign policy success (Global Insight, February 6).
The daily demonstrations in Morocco demanding that the king cancel the agreement with Israel and the latest Israel-Gazan war beg the question just how successful the accords have been. They have certainly not delivered sustainable peace in the region.
The Israeli writer David Grossman, writing in the FT shortly after Hamas’ attacks on southern Israel (“Israel is in a nightmare. Who will we be when we rise from the ashes?”, October 13) on October 7 2023, explained that the Palestinians have been sidelined in the accords, and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prided himself on severing the connection between the Palestinian problem and Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbours.
Trita Parsi, executive vice-president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in the US, stated recently that the attacks had to some extent emerged from the Abraham Accords. It may not have been a coincidence that the attacks occurred three days before Antony Blinken’s planned visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel, where he was to discuss ways to close the remaining gaps in the normalisation deal.
Gabriele vom Bruck
School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, London WC1, UK