UAE - The Regional & Domestic Perspectives.

The UAE's attitude towards Israel is in keeping with its regional priorities, which include (a) maintaining political stability in the GCC and the wider Middle East, and (b) keeping the area open for business and foreign investment. Neither can be achieved if there is disruption caused by Islamic militancy and other factors.

The UAE has a double-edged approach in dealing with this reality. One is to adopt a position that is finely balanced so that the country is not seen as a "puppet" of the US and Israel. This entails having a relatively ambiguous relationship with the Islamist groups operating throughout the Middle East, especially in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.

This is why, for instance, the UAE is an important source of funding for movements such as Hamas which are fighting for a popular cause, i.e. against Israeli occupation. (That is also who the UAE is one of only three countries in the world which recognises the Taliban movement in Afghanistan). And the UAE is not particularly concerned about occasional Western media reports that point out the linkages involved. After the recent upsurge of violence in the Palestinian territories, millions of dollars in private donations were collected on behalf of the Palestinians in the occupied territories. The media has also been strongly critical of the government of Ariel Sharon in Israel.

The other edge is to ensure that such militant tendencies are never allowed to spread into the UAE and into the neighbouring countries. Indeed, the UAE has been so successful in this approach that there is little room within the union for Islamic radicalism. The problem of Islamic militancy, which has affected virtually every country in the Arab World, has left the UAE untouched. There have been no reports of any shadowy group claiming that it intends to overthrow the current ruling superstructure and to replace it with an "Islamic state" (see the latest edition of Re-drawing the Islamic Map).

The UAE also co-operates with other GCC and Arab states in monitoring and such tendencies taking necessary measures to ensure that they do not get out of control. However, the level of such tendencies in the UAE itself are so low that there are no reports of crackdowns against Islamist groups, or even indication of any organised activity by such groups against the ruling super-structure. The ruling families of the seven emirates that make up the UAE are quite clear that no "political opposition" will be permitted, whether its orientation is Islamist or towards any other ideology.