Jerusalem: Israel, a nation long shunned in the Middle East, experienced an electrifying sense of achievement when it agreed to establish diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates in 2020.
Officials insisted that Israel's new alliances with the UAE and Bahrain would extend beyond governments and become agreements affecting the entire society, promoting mass tourism and cordial interactions between groups of people who had previously been at odds.
However, the anticipated influx of Gulf Arab tourists to Israel has been little more than a trickle over the past two years since the historic accords. Just 1,600 Emirati citizens have visited Israel since it lifted travel restrictions due to the coronavirus last year, despite the fact that over 500,000 Israelis have travelled to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, both of which are oil-rich nations, and Abu Dhabi, which is home to a lot of skyscrapers.
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The ministry claimed that "the numbers are too small" to know how many Bahrainis have travelled to Israel.
Mursi Hija, the head of the forum for Arabic-speaking tour guides in Israel, described the situation as still being "very weird and sensitive." The Emiratis believe that their presence here was a mistake.
The lack of Emirati and Bahraini visitors reflects Israel's long-standing Arab image issue and highlights the limitations of the Abraham Accords, according to experts.
According to a survey conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an American think tank, the popularity of the agreements in the UAE and Bahrain has declined since the deals were signed, despite the fact that bilateral trade between Israel and the UAE has increased dramatically from $11.2 million in 2019 to $1.2 billion last year.
In the last two years, support in the UAE decreased from 47% to 25%. Just 20% of Bahrain's population is in favour of the agreement, down from 45% in 2020. During that time, Israel and Gaza militants engaged in a bloody conflict, and the occupied West Bank experienced its worst violence in years.
According to Israeli officials, tourism from Gulf Arab nations to Israel is the final component needed to take the agreements beyond just security and diplomatic ties. Egypt and Jordan, the first two nations to reach an agreement with Israel, send almost no tourists.
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To get (Emiratis) to visit for the first time, we must encourage them. It's a crucial mission, the Israeli ambassador to the UAE, Amir Hayek, told the AP. In order for people to get to know one another and understand one another, tourism needs to be promoted.
Israeli tourism officials travelled to the UAE last month as part of a marketing campaign to promote Israel as a secure and alluring vacation destination. The ministry claimed that it is currently promoting Tel Aviv, Israel's centre of commerce and entertainment, as a major draw for Emiratis.
According to travel agents, betting on Jerusalem thus far has failed. Emiratis and Bahrainis have lost interest in the conflicted city, and some of them have received criticism from Palestinians who view normalisation as a betrayal of their cause. Throughout the Arab world, there is widespread support for the Palestinian people's fight for independence from Israel.
The Arab world is still showing a lot of reluctance, according to Dan Feferman, the director of Sharaka, an organisation that encourages contacts between Israelis and Arabs. They anticipate that Israel will be in a state of conflict and that they will face prejudice. Sharaka struggled to find additional Gulf Arab residents interested in travelling to Israel after leading two trips of Bahrainis and Emiratis, according to him.
According to Hija, the group's tour guide, when they visited the Al Aqsa Mosque complex in 2020—the third-holiest place in Islam—they were spit on and pelted with shoes in Jerusalem's Old City.
The grand mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, issued a religious edict against Emiratis visiting the mosque while under Israeli surveillance after another group of Emirati officials went to the flashpoint site with Israeli police.
Most Emiratis and Bahrainis who have travelled to Israel claim they avoid wearing their traditional garb and headscarves to avoid drawing attention. The mosque's management organisation, the Islamic Waqf, declined to comment on the number of Emirati and Bahraini visitors and how they were treated on the grounds.
Palestinian hostility toward Emiratis is not only present on the revered esplanade. According to Emirati nationals studying and travelling in Israel, they frequently receive online harassment and death threats.
Sumaiiah Almehiri, a 31-year-old Emirati from Dubai pursuing a nursing degree at the University of Haifa, said: "Not everyone can handle the pressure." "I didn't succumb to the threats, but fear is keeping many Emiratis from going," the speaker said.
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Arabs from the Gulf may leave Israel out of fear of anti-Arab racism. During their search for a criminal who committed a drive-by shooting in Tel Aviv last summer, Israeli police mistakenly detained two Emirati tourists. On social media, some Emiratis expressed frustration over being subjected to unwanted scrutiny by security personnel at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport.
They won't return and will warn all of their friends to stay away if you bring them here and don't treat them nicely, according to Hija.
The agreements with Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Sudan will be strengthened, according to Benjamin Netanyahu, who was re-elected as prime minister last week for a sixth term. In the wake of a military coup and in the absence of a formal agreement, relations with Sudan remain elusive.