After COP29, Israel and the Region Can Reaffirm the Abraham Accords Vision

COP29, the global climate conference, wrapped up in Azerbaijan last week. For twelve days, diplomats, innovators, and activists gathered in Baku to wrestle with the challenges facing our planet. An Israeli delegation of more than 100 strong attended.

Before the annual gathering commenced, Gideon Behar, Israel’s climate envoy, remarked, “We cannot [give the impression] that the war has closed us off.” The Jewish state “want[s] to contribute to the global battle on climate change” and has “solutions and technology to offer.”

Israel was using its technology savvy to deepen its regional integration before Hamas’s October 7 attack. The ensuing war may have sidetracked that project, but it hasn’t halted all regional collaboration. COP29 is an occasion to get fully back on track. For Israel, climate cooperation is both an environmental necessity and a proven means of building peace with our Arab neighbors.

Two years ago, at COP27, Israel, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed to advance a water-for-energy deal that foresaw Israel boosting desalinated water exports to Jordan in exchange for clean energy from a UAE-sponsored solar farm in the Hashemite Kingdom. While serving in the Israeli government, I had the privilege to facilitate the signing of the declaration of intent on the sidelines of the 2021 EXPO in Dubai. The trilateral “Project Prosperity” was set to launch at COP28 at the same location.

Hamas had other plans. Weeks before COP28 opened in Dubai, the Iran-backed terrorist group launched its October 7 assault, killing and kidnapping more than 1,000 victims across southern Israel. The attack was not just an exercise in shedding Jewish blood. It was a calculated attempt to reverse Israel’s integration into the region and sabotage the Abraham Accords, which had started to manifest in arrangements like the water-for-energy deal clinched at COP27.

Project Prosperity became one of Hamas’s first diplomatic victims. After Israel launched its counteroffensive against Hamas, relations between Jordan and Israel deteriorated, and Amman pulled out of the trilateral project. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of fostering “an environment of hatred and enmity” and scoffed at the idea of “a Jordanian minister sitting next to an Israeli minister to sign the deal.”

October 7 may have halted the broadening and deepening of Israel’s regional relationships, derailed certain agreements, and paused the signing of new ones. But the signatories of the Abraham Accords—pragmatic nations seeking security, stability, and prosperity—and Israel’s traditional peace partners have not broken off relations with the Jewish state. Diplomatic relations continue, and economic ties remain.

The common interest in creating a secure, stable, and prosperous Middle East keeps the Abrahamic dream alive even as war still rages around Israel’s borders. Regional collaboration to fend off joint threats and harness joint interests remains possible and can transform the Middle East entirely. COP29 can inspire the region to rededicate itself to this mission.

Israel and her regional partners can start by enhancing joint efforts to address shared energy, water, and food security concerns. Project Prosperity remains on ice but is not dead: Jordan appeared to reverse its withdrawal in March when Amman asked Jerusalem for a twelve-month extension of the deal. The project should be a model for more ambitious collaboration. During COP29, many Israeli companies presented transformative technologies for the climate, energy, and food and water sectors.

Both Arab governments and those further afield should embark on joint projects with Israel that leverage its transformative technologies. These efforts can build upon the spirit of the Negev Forum—a framework for cooperation between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Morocco, and Bahrain established in 2022—and the I2U2 Group, which brought Israel, India, the United States, and the UAE together into an economic collaborative.

Another initiative worth advancing is a trans-Middle Eastern economic corridor stretching from India to Europe. In September 2023, the U.S., European Union, India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Germany, France, and Italy announced plans to build the “India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor” (IMEC) linking Asia to Europe via the Middle East. Seen to fruition, IMEC can “usher in a new era of connectivity” that will “facilitate the development and export of clean energy” and enhance “food security and supply chains.”

Project Prosperity, the Negev Forum, the I2U2 Group, and IMEC each embody the optimistic spirit that enveloped the Middle East before Hamas plunged the region into war. On October 6, 2023, the Abraham Accords were flourishing, and Saudi Arabia and Israel were on the precipice of normalization. Economic ties between Israel and the Gulf were strengthening, and opportunities for further collaboration abounded. The Abraham Accords unleashed an era of transformation and positive trends with the potential to overcome the endemic violence in the region.

The Abraham Accords were made possible by the leadership of the Trump administration and by courageous Arab leaders who understood that their national interests favored peace and cooperation with Israel, not perpetual conflict. That realization unlocked enhanced diplomatic relations, the signing of trade agreements, and the opening of markets and air routes.

The war does not need to stall this momentum or blacken the region’s future. Regional governments should recognize that it is within their shared interest to end the war, see Hamas release all the hostages, and embark on the reconstruction of the devastated war zones in Gaza and Lebanon. After thirteen months of intense conflict, Israeli policy definitely should reflect that desired end-game. Regional countries can and should contribute to reaching that end state and help create the conditions necessary to ensure that another October 7 cannot happen again. Pragmatic leaders should lead the way for new political processes that will stabilize the region and foster security for all peoples.

This should be merely the beginning of Israeli integration into a pragmatic Middle East. The radical extremists are gunning for all those who dream and hope for a prosperous region. Our joint success is crucial not only for the national security of Israel but for our neighbors as well.

To extremists, this vision for an integrated region may seem like a nightmare. To cynics or those in despair, it may seem unrealistic. But to those who seek a better future for the next generation, this is the only path forward.

For Israel, there is clearly no better way. The land of Israel is our homeland, and the Middle East is our neighborhood. We have no other.

Dr. Eyal Hulata is Israel’s former National Security Advisor and head of the National Security Council. He is currently a senior international fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

Image: Zulfugar Graphics / Shutterstock.com.