The United Arab Emirates will host a celebration of the Abrahamic Agreement at Expo 2020 Dubai next week, Israel’s ambassadors to the United Arab Emirates and the United States announced on Thursday.
The event – believed to be the first in a series to be hosted by Morocco, Bahrain and Israel over the next few months – will feature a football match between a combined Israeli, Emirati, Bahrain and Moroccan team and a team composed of international stars from football. ,
Israel national team players Tal Ben Haim, Salim Tumama and Maura Buzaglo will play in the “Abraham Accord Classics Team”. Athletes from other Abraham Accord countries also play in their respective national teams.
The “World Legends Team” will include Brazilians Kaka and Julio Cesar, Spain’s Carles Puyol and Michel Salgado, Argentina’s Javier Saviola, Nigerian JJ Okocha, Frenchman Robert Pires, Bakri Sanga and Claude Mekele, and Dutchman Clarence Seidorff.
Players and dignitaries will also enjoy a joint culinary event, as top chefs from Israel, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates prepare a festive dinner.
A signing ceremony will take place after the meal, where a “Joint Declaration on Culture and Sport for Peace” Abraham would open the door to similar developments in other member states of the accord.
The Dubai program was originally supposed to also include musicians from all four countries, but this became too complicated with the involvement of artists’ agents at the time. Still, work on an Abraham Accords concert is underway, The Times of Israel has learned.
Implementation of the Abraham Accords
In September 2020, Israel established official diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by a normalization agreement with Morocco and Sudan. Israel opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi in July 2021.
US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides brought together diplomats from Abraham Accord member countries in Israel in three working groups. The UAE focuses on culture and sport, Bahrain focuses on technology, health care and economic development, while Morocco strives to advance travel and tourism.
“As these benefits keep on increasing, so do the relationships between people”Niedes said in a statement. “This historic Abraham Accord Festival at Expo 2020 Dubai is an opportunity to forge lasting bonds between athletes, restaurateurs and other actors and creators who have created such vibrant societies in the UAE as in Israel, Morocco and Bahrain.”
Sports, Cooking & Culture, Responses to Peace
Since arriving in Israel in February 2021, the UAE ambassador to racing enthusiast Mohammed Al Khaza has focused on sports diplomacy to advance growing Israel-UAE relations.
“We are very ambitious here”He told The Times of Israel in November. “This is definitely an area where people can feel the relationship and move beyond seeing something symbolic, something real that people experience.”
Emirati Ambassador says: “We believe that we should always remain optimistic and we are focusing on the areas of interest to redouble our efforts on what we have in common. This is the only way to find lasting and warm peace”He continued.
Khaja had a football game and dinner”Part of a larger effort in which ongoing sporting, gastronomic and cultural events serve to build strong people-to-people bonds among the signatories of the Abrahamic Agreement.
Emirati diplomat says “A strong peace is based on strong ties between the citizens of the countries of the Abrahamic Agreement” And“We want people to play, eat, share, be friends and have fun together.”The same spokesperson said.