The author with her dog in Abu Dhabi (left) and Tel Aviv (Right)

The agreement between the UAE and Israel is a big deal. It will probably have many ramifications in the months and years to come. I hope most of them will be positive for all those involved (including the Palestinians). But today, I just want to celebrate being able to make that phone call.

On the evening of August 13, came the news …. It must have been in the making behind the scrutiny of us commoners, in the corridor of power, for a while. But to us it came as a big surprise and a bolt from the blue. The UAE was to normalize relations with Israel, in return for the latter deferring the plan to annex parts of the Palestinian West Bank.

It was big news. A result of a “historic agreement” between the United States, the UAE and Israel. It has already made front page news. Comments are being written and will continue to be written about the reasons, implications and more in the coming days and years ahead. Thomas Friedman, has called it a “geopolitical earthquake” in the Mideast, in his New York Times piece. Others have opined if it would “re-establish” President Trump as a “deal maker”; what it would do for the embattled Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel and will it provide the UAE a bigger role on the world stage.

I could weigh-in on this and add my little two bits to the ongoing debate. But it is not my place and neither the intention of this article to give any strategic gyan. This is just to say what it would personally mean for many, including for the people of the countries involved.

I moved to the UAE from Israel, about nine months ago. As you can probably guess, this means that I am neither an Emirati nor an Israeli. Many were a bit surprised, to say the least, when they got the know of our move. But life often brings interesting and unexpected turns.

We were ready to embrace it.

It was only when we started with the nitty-gritty of the move, that we realized how strange this was going to be. Our friends and contacts would not be able to just pick up the phone and call us (no-diplomatic relations between the two countries meant that phone calls between them were not allowed) to advise us on what to plan for and expect. Our stuff needed to be shipped to a different destination before it could come into this country. And our dog too had to take a detour with us and have all her papers and vaccinations re-done (in a third country) before she was allowed entry.

All through this process, we had Emiratis and other UAE residents who helped us. Once we moved here it was quick settling down and making friends (And thank god for that; who knew Covid 19 would arrive and we would all go under a lockdown for months !!!). From day one we felt that warmth and ease of living in this country. It is a welcoming country and the Emiratis have great confidence in themselves and are not daunted by the fact that they are outnumbered by the number of expatriates living in their country. In fact they wear it as a badge of honour that people from almost 200 countries have made the UAE their home and live here.

But even as I made new friends in my new home and got comfortable, I often missed those who I had left behind in Israel. They too had been just as warm and welcoming to me when I had moved to their country. It bothered them and me that we could not travel easily to meet each other or just make a quick call and speak. On August 16, 2020, this changed. I dialled a number not used for months on my phone’s contact list. On the other side my friend screamed –“who? you? I can’t believe it”.

This new agreement is a big deal. It will probably have many ramifications in the months and years to come. I hope most of them will be positive for all those involved (including the Palestinians). But today, I just want to celebrate being able to make that phone call.

An edited version of this first appeared in the Khaleej Times on August 19^th, 2020 and in the Jerusalem post in August 23rd, 2020.