TRENDS Research and Advisory Center, in cooperation with the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC), Tel Aviv University, and with the participation of Al-Ittihad newspaper as a media and strategic partner, will be holding a symposium titled “Abraham Accords: Opportunity for Greater Cooperation, Tolerance and Development in the Region” on 27 October 2021 at Tel Aviv University. A number of researchers, academics and specialists from both sides will participate in this symposium.

The symposium will consist of three discussion panels: 1) the role of culture in promoting the values of tolerance and dialogue; 2) the role of media in promoting peace and human fraternity; and 3) prospects for cooperation in development and technology. A preparatory joint roundtable discussion will be held one day before the symposium.

Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ali, CEO of TRENDS Research and Advisory Center, stated that this symposium aims at supporting efforts to maintain peace; maintaining peace is a much more daunting task than making it, as it requires other important supporting factors to ensure that it benefits all parties, whether they participated in the making or not.

He explained that peacemaking countries need to strengthen their understanding and cooperation so that it goes beyond the limited institutional frameworks; they need to consolidate the foundations of peace using various methods, thereby creating a solid base of shared interests by enhancing economic, cultural, media, technological and political cooperation to the benefit of all parties, thereby demonstrating to peoples that peace would serve their interests.

Dr. Al-Ali said he was optimistic about the future of the Abraham Accords and their positive impact on the region; the UAE has the political will and desire to achieve and maintain peace, and this is reflected in all its domestic and foreign policies as well as its efforts to promote the culture of peace and tolerance in the region and the world.

He noted that the Abraham Accords have been one of the most important developments in the contemporary history of the Middle East; the Abraham Accords represent a shift in the geopolitics of a region which has generally been unstable for almost two decades. A reading of the terms of the peace agreement signed between the UAE and Israel has shown several details and ideas that highlight the need to consolidate peace in this part of the world and to uproot extremism and solve conflicts in order to ensure a better future for humanity.