Fruit from the Accords

In the news today are two significant events, one of which is the direct result of the Abraham Accords.

The first is the landmark trip of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he made the initial trip of an Israeli prime minister to meet the Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zaed al-Nahan in Dubai. Prime Minister Bennett expressed his pleasure for the meeting in two separate statements. “Mutual partnership and friendship are natural. We are neighbors and cousins.” He also said that with last year’s accomplishments of the Abraham Accords normalizing Israel’s ties with the UAE and other Arab states established a new, deep and solid structure for diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations in the Middle East.”

In addition to this historic meeting 16 students from Jerusalem PICO Kids Ambassadors program departed on an exchange mission “designed to promote collaboration between students on specific challenges facing the international community.” The students will meet with their counterparts, “where they are teamed up with student counterparts in Dubai’s Taalen Schools to create workable solutions to water scarcity”

The PICO kids program “works with 60 schools across Jerusalem and more than 4,000 students, with programs and partnerships that deliver science, technology, engineering, and math education (STEEM), through hands-on project based learning in afternoon programming to students in grades 1-12.”

Refreshing developments from a region that has not been known for peace and co-operation. How encouraging!

(Source: TOI)