49. Embrace Opportunities for Palestinian Involvement in Abraham Accords Initiatives

The normalization agreements have already led to deals on trade, scientific and environmental cooperation, and tourism, among other areas. While these agreements have been confined to Israel and the Abraham Accords states, they should include Palestinian involvement wherever possible, with areas such as religious tourism, renewable energy, and free trade zones good candidates for this approach. The $3 billion Abraham Fund, established following the Accords to fund a variety of joint Israeli-Emirati projects with the hope that other countries would join later, excluded the Palestinians by design. The fund, which has been suspended, could be revived as a model for real multilateral investment framework in regional projects that would involve the Palestinians and benefit the Palestinian private sector in the West Bank and Gaza. Given Israel’s interest in strengthening the PA (mostly economically at this stage), there is incentive for all involved to ensure that the Palestinians benefit from the new regional paradigm shift.

Link to New Normal study https://israelpolicyforum.org/thenewnormal/