Was war between Israel and Hamas inevitable? In 2020, former US President Donald Trump proudly announced a peace agreement between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The so-called Abraham Accords marked a historic deal to normalize relations between the Arab world and Israel, the first of its kind in recent history. While it was a political victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the agreement was a betrayal for those defending the Palestinian cause.
Three years later, in the summer of 2023, there was even a hint of an unprecedented rapprochement with Saudi Arabia. But Hamas's October 7 attack put any hopes of improved relations to rest and governments with normalized relations with Israel face an uneasy balancing act.
More than ever, Middle East stability depends on one crucial issue: a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Le Monde looks back at the history of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, using archival footage and advanced mapping techniques, to break down one of the longest-running conflicts in the world.
Sources for this video include:
- The Abraham Accords: A new understanding in the Middle East - Solène Jomier (2022, in French)
- Israel and the Gulf States: Stakes in a strategic rapprochement - Elisabeth Marteu (2018, in French)
- Israel and the Arab world: Palestine between war and peace - Dominique Perrin (in French)
- The Abraham Accords: A real geopolitical rupture in the Middle East? - Arnaud Peyronnet (2020, in French)
- Three months after Biden's arrival, the beginning of rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran - Bernard Adam (2021, in French)
- Saudi Arabia and Iran: The Politics of Détente - Simon Mabon (2023)
- Arab and Muslim Countries in the War of Sukkot: Mapping a Rupture - The Great Continent (2023, in French and Spanish)
- Will the War in Gaza Ignite the Middle East? - Dalia Dassa Kaye, Foreign Affairs (2023)
- "ABRAHAM AXIS" VS "AXIS OF RESISTANCE": The impact of regional restructuring on Iran's strategic posture - Heloïse Fayet (2022, in French)
- "The Axis of Resistance": Iran's regional expansion - CDEM (2021, in French)
- The Geopolitical Consequences of the Israel-Hamas War - British Foreign Policy Group