Conference Summaries
/ Abraham Accords
As part of Mitvim Institute’s 8th annual “Building Hope” conference on regional foreign policy, Dr. Roee Kibrik, Director of Research, held an in-depth conversation with Muhammad Baharoon, Director General of b’huth – the Dubai Public Policy Research Center. The discussion took place at a sensitive moment for the Middle East, following the coordinated Arab effort that led President Trump to halt the war in Gaza and amid attempts to shape a path toward regional stabilization.
Baharoon began by noting that despite the severity of the past year, the region has also witnessed meaningful progress. “Looking back… there has been a huge improvement. This improvement didn’t happen by itself — it happened with a lot of efforts from a big number of people, countries, individuals. That contributed to what we describe as the light at the end of the tunnel.” While this does not mark the end of the story, he argued, it reflects a shift in the way regional and global actors cooperate.
He described a fundamental transition in the international system. According to him, the era in which great powers act alone is giving way to an interconnected order in which coalitions of small and medium-sized states shape outcomes. “We are looking at a new world order. It is not polar — it is interconnected. In an interconnected world, it’s like voting: the number of small and medium-sized countries matters more than the vote of the larger ones.” The political choreography that took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, he noted, illustrated this emerging collective will.
Baharoon emphasized that alongside political coordination, a new idea of collective security is taking shape. “The international security force that is now gathering up steam is a group of countries saying: we are willing to invest in the security of Israel.” In this framework, Israel no longer needs to rely solely on its own capabilities; regional and international actors are expressing readiness to share responsibility. This, in his view, adds a crucial security component to earlier political and economic frameworks, including the Arab Peace Initiative and the Abraham Accords. “Put all of these together, you have a very good solution for the region.”
When asked about the main challenges that could undermine this positive momentum, Baharoon warned that unilateral security decisions could fracture the emerging coalition. “If Israel gets intelligence that a group of Hamas is moving… and because of my security I will have to bomb them in the presence of other nations patrolling Gaza, and some of them die — then we will see that break of that type of security.” Such actions, he explained, may serve Israel’s short-term preferences but would jeopardize its long-term opportunity for regional and global integration. Projects such as IMEC, the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor, have already been derailed. “People are doubting this integration because of the security calculus of Israel that led Israel to attack Doha.”
Addressing the question of whether the region could advance its agenda without Israel, Baharoon responded directly: “Frankly, Israel needs the region more than the region needs Israel.” He stressed that regional megaprojects can and will be rerouted if Israel chooses not to participate. “IMEC was supposed to go through Haifa. If it doesn’t go through Haifa, it will go somewhere else — Tartus, Beirut, Alhambra.” For Israel, he argued, the choice is between going fast alone or going far together. “This is not Israel’s destiny — it is Israel’s choice.”
Turning to the future of Gaza and the wider region, Baharoon cautioned against framing the challenge too narrowly. “This is not about Gaza. This is about peace in the Middle East… Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen. If we only see Gaza, then we would not go so far.” He described the UAE’s long-standing commitment to state-building as the foundation of its approach. In the absence of functioning states, non-state actors fill the vacuum. “The investment in statehood is imperative, because the alternative to states is non-state actors.” This principle, he explained, guided UAE policy toward Iran and Syria, and now toward the Palestinian issue. “Once there is a state, there is no occupation. When there is no occupation, there is no resistance, there is no non-state actors.”
For the UAE, multilateral cooperation is essential. A meaningful process must involve Israel alongside regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, as well as Muslim states participating in the emerging security framework. Baharoon suggested that the multinational force forming in Gaza could eventually evolve into a guarantor of peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. “If there has ever been the fear that Israel cannot afford a Palestinian state because a Palestinian state is a danger, I think now we’ve got a mechanism that could allow for this.”
Reflecting on the institutional weakness in Gaza and the West Bank, Dr. Kibrik noted the importance of building functional Palestinian governance as part of any sustainable arrangement. Baharoon agreed, emphasizing the need to view Gaza’s transition not as conflict management but as a step in a broader state-building process.
At the end of the conversation, Kibrik invited Baharoon to address the Israeli public directly. Baharoon responded with a message centered on long-term vision and mutual responsibility. “Perpetual war shouldn’t be Israel’s destiny in the region — and frankly shouldn’t be the region’s destiny with Israel.” He recalled the logic behind the Abraham Accords: treating Israel as a partner rather than an adversary. “Cultural integration is possible, war and peace is possible, economic integration is possible.”
He also urged Israelis to recognize the role played by the Palestinian Authority in maintaining stability. “They have been a partner in peace with Israel… in security in the West Bank. That should be recognized and built on, rather than dismissed.” Above all, he pointed to the growing willingness of regional states to support Israel’s security, and the reciprocal responsibility this creates. “There are so many countries that are willing to invest in Israel’s security. Israel needs to invest in their security as well, because this is always a two-way street.”
The conversation concluded with both participants expressing hope that future meetings would take place in person, under improved political circumstances that reflect a genuine regional commitment to shared security and prosperity.
