What Were the Abraham Accords Keys to Success? | Opinion

The following essay is an excerpt from Aryeh Lightstone's new book, Let My People Know: The Incredible Story of Middle East Peace—and What Lies Ahead (Encounter Books, July 12).

It was widely believed that the materialization of the Abraham Accords was basically just luck, but that could not be further from the truth. There were particular reasons for this foreign policy success.

One key was the absence of a public process, because the only good that comes from such processes in a volatile region like the Middle East is job security for the people involved. Previous attempts at Middle East peace involved a myriad of public confidence-inducing measures, and then pundits from across the political spectrum and around the world would dissect every word and action. As a consequence, words and actions became more carefully scripted and rehearsed, with an eye to what the next media take might be. Analysis then came pouring forth with all the brilliance of the neighborhood fantasy football fanatic, while peace remained ever elusive. So the Abraham Accords team took a very different approach.

There would be no public negotiations and no strategic leaks through the press. The Accords would be announced only when they were completed. While the media speculated, fished, and occasionally made stuff up, there were never any consequential leaks, let alone any that derailed plans. Everyone involved in the peace plan had a high-level security clearance, which meant that discretion was mandatory. What's more, the people involved in the Abraham Accords were all pleased to keep the necessary discretion rather than backstab colleagues, hurt allies, and damage the prospects for peace by selective leaks to certain media outlets. I believe this was crucial to success.

Another key was relying upon leaders of countries involved to be—wait for it—leaders. Instead of treating them as whipping boys or obstacles to progress, the White House empowered them, giving them broad leeway and public encouragement. They know their own countries and the needs of their people better than an assistant secretary of state who studied international affairs at an Ivy League school. The White House gave those leaders as much space as possible to negotiate on their own countries' behalf. That is a reason why each principal and senior staff member who participated kept the necessary discretion and secrecy.

Finally, the Abraham Accords came about because the United States under President Donald Trump had a clear Middle East policy that let the world know who our friends and foes are, and the metrics for moving from one status to another. It was not a romantic Middle East policy, but a practical one. When there was a question of what we should do, the first consideration was not what the rest of the world would think, but what was in the best interest of the United States.

Experienced foreign policy experts, including career diplomats, can often lose sight of the national interest because they spend so much time abroad. The foreign service itself recognizes the risk of diplomats going native—not becoming a spy or a double agent, but simply starting to advocate for the country they are posted to more than promoting the interests of the United States—if they remain in one country too long. This is why foreign service officers are assigned for tours of up to four years in one posting, and rarely longer. Yet, as we saw earlier, diplomats tend to socialize with other people in the diplomatic world and share a common outlook. There's a similar issue with people who spend many years in foreign policy think tanks. They can become so immersed in their think tank universe that they are blinkered to the practical results of their policy prescriptions.

President Trump and his team of nonprofessional and inexperienced diplomats did not succeed in spite of their lack of experience; they succeeded because of their lack of experience. They were able to approach the challenges of the Middle East as businesspeople on behalf of the American public. Where are our interests, what motivates us, and what are our challenges? Once we address those questions, we have the ability to chart a course that works for us.

What followed was rather remarkable. Other nations may have been annoyed that we were suddenly pursuing a strong America-oriented foreign policy, but they could not argue with it, because it made sense. From the Jerusalem recognition through the release of the Peace to Prosperity "Vision," our foreign policy was bold and decidedly America First. We could not expect other countries to be more pro-American than we are.

President Trump found the Middle East with an ISIS caliphate, Iran on a glide path toward nuclear capability, the Muslim Brotherhood legitimized, Israel isolated, and the Palestinian leadership unaccountable to the United States or to its own people. He left the Middle East in a much different state. The ISIS caliphate was destroyed. Iran was brought to its knees. The Muslim Brotherhood was challenged to divorce radical Islamic ideology from its philosophy or not be considered a legitimate political influence. The Palestinian leadership was challenged to become accountable, and the Palestinian people were shown a vision of what the future could be. Israel became the undisputed regional superpower, and the Abraham Accords strengthened our other core allies in the region—the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Morocco. In addition, Sudan and Kosovo viewed joining the Accords as a way to elevate their own status in the world.

Because the Middle East was trending in such a positive direction, I continued working in my embassy position as long as possible. My job was essentially to see that Israel was following through on its commitments to the other Abraham Accords countries. While the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Kosovo, and Sudan were each adjusting to just one new relationship, Israel had begun new relationships with five different countries in the span of 123 days. The Israeli government did everything in its power to develop these relationships at a time when every country was grappling with COVID-19 and international travel had nearly ceased.

I concluded my last Abraham Accords phone call at 5:45 P.M. on January 20, 2021. My letter of resignation would take effect at 7:00 P.M. Many people in the administration resigned when President Trump lost the election. Many others coasted until the end of the term. Some had professional bucket lists of items to cross off before leaving government, possibly forever. Not the Abraham Accords team. We kept working to the very last hour, repeating the mantra: "Peace is not a Republican ideal or a Democratic ideal; it is an American value."

Aryeh Lightstone served as senior advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2017 to 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @lightstonea.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.