[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 149 (Thursday, September 15, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4805-S4806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ABRAHAM ACCORDS

  Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, 2 years ago, almost to the exact 
moment, I was sitting on the south lawn of the White House in the 
blazing Sun, where a redhead should never sit, getting a sunburn, on a 
hot September day in DC, watching leadership of the UAE, Bahrain, 
Israel, and the United States all shake hands and sign an agreement 
called the Abraham Accords. It was a remarkable moment in American 
history.
  We have become so accustomed in the last 2 years to this conversation 
about the Abraham Accords, we lose track that it was just 2 years ago 
that we had one of the greatest breakthroughs in Middle East peace that 
we have had in decades.
  In 1979, Egypt and Israel came together for a peace agreement under 
President Jimmy Carter and the Camp David Accords. In 1994, Jordan and 
Israel normalized relationships under President Clinton. But for 26 
years, there were no additional peace agreements and, quite frankly, 
very few conversations even. It stopped. All the conversation among 
foreign affairs was that you had to resolve the Palestinian conflict 
before anything else could be resolved in the Middle East, and for 26 
years, all the focus was on that.
  The Trump administration came in and put the whole thing on its head 
and said: What if? What if we work towards peace agreements outside of 
the Palestinian conversation? If we set that aside, could we still 
normalize agreements?
  Again, most people said: No, that is not possible--until 2 years ago 
today. Two years ago today, when the leaders of UAE, Bahrain, Israel, 
and the United States met together and signed an agreement, they 
started not just a process, they started a conversation and a dialogue. 
They shook hands and signed an agreement that had remarkable statements 
in it about religious liberty that we look at and think: The Arab world 
would not sign that, but they did, quite frankly, because people hadn't 
asked them to.
  There were conversations and agreements made about energy policy, 
about economic development in a region of the world that many would say 
that no one will ever meet and this will never get better.
  President Reagan once said:

       Our involvement in the search for Middle East peace is not 
     a matter of preference; it is a moral imperative.


[[Page S4806]]


  We are a people of peace. We are a people, as a nation, passionate 
about religious liberty. We are a people who want to see a nation 
joining other nations in economic development. It is who we are. It is 
who we have been from the beginning, and we are at our best when we are 
expanding that.
  Since the signing of that document, several things have happened in 
that 2-year time period.
  The first thing that happened, really, was that in October of 2020, 
Sudan raised their hand and said: I want to join that agreement. Then, 
in December of 2020, Morocco raised their hand and said: I want to be 
in that agreement. It quickly went from four nations to five, to six, 
all in this ongoing dialogue about peace in the region.
  The countries have exchanged Ambassadors since then. Again, that may 
not sound revolutionary, but it is in that region. The UAE, Morocco, 
and Bahrain all opened up Embassies in Israel--again, revolutionary. 
Israel opened up its Embassy--the first ever in the Gulf nations--in 
Abu Dhabi in January of 2021. It opens up its next Embassy in Bahrain 
in September of 2021.
  The UAE and Israel have signed comprehensive free-trade agreements. 
There is now $10 billion worth of trade in the next 5 years that has 
been set up between those nations. Trade has begun between Israel and 
Morocco. In fact, it has increased 94 percent in a year. Trade between 
the UAE and Israel has increased 88 percent in 1 year. Trade between 
Israel and Egypt, even, has increased 41 percent in the last year and 
between Israel and Jordan, with a longstanding agreement, has increased 
55 percent.
  The UAE and Morocco now have university students who are studying in 
Israeli universities--something we thought we would never see. The UAE 
has overhauled its school curriculum to increase tolerance and 
understanding of other faiths and other religious groups.
  Dozens of daily flights are now moving in those Abraham Accord 
countries, bringing business and tourism. There are even real 
conversations about water, about energy sharing and development and 
large economic infrastructure projects.
  There are other countries, even, in the region that have started to 
take notice of this. Countries like Saudi Arabia are now allowing 
Israeli-bound flights to fly through Saudi airspace. Now, again, that 
may not seem revolutionary to some, that planes get to fly over them, 
but, you understand, 2 years ago, that didn't happen. The Saudis made 
every Israeli-bound flight go around their airspace. Israel and Saudi 
Arabia have also participated in multilateral naval and air drills, 
alongside UAE, Bahrain, and other countries. It is an enormous shift.
  If I can even say this in the region, Israel and Lebanon are very 
close right now to forming an agreement on what they call the Blue 
Line, the border between Israel and Lebanon, including the maritime 
areas. What does that matter? It is a tremendous development for 
Lebanon, for their economic development, because there is a large 
natural gas field just off of Lebanon's coast, but the border has been 
unresolved for years.
  In the conflict between nations and the trust that has collapsed, the 
Abraham Accords have provided an opportunity and a moment for the 
nations in the region to say: If peace can begin with UAE and Bahrain 
and Sudan and Morocco and Israel and recognition and economic 
development and Ambassadors can be exchanged, who else can engage in 
economic development?
  Let's start with their neighbor Lebanon. To build trust is to also 
build clear borders. This is real progress in 2 years.
  My challenge to the administration and to our State Department is, 
fan the flame. Keep going on this. We have seen nations begin to do 
economic development, families meeting other families, school 
curriculum changing to taking out anti-Semitic tropes, basically, out 
of their curriculum. We have seen real progress in this area. Keep 
going. Other nations should be welcomed to be able to join in the 
Abraham Accords. It is not closed. Other nations can join in that 
economic development.
  There are four of us who began the Abraham Accords Caucus: myself, 
Senator Rosen, Senator Ernst, and Senator Booker. We launched out the 
four of us and invited all of our colleagues to be able to join into 
it. Our focus is to be able to work with the Ambassadors of those 
nations to say: How can we partner together to bless what has already 
occurred, and how can we expand into other nations? How can we 
encourage increased economic development?
  Now, there are still very real challenges. The work is not done by 
any means, but it has at least begun, and progress is taking off--this 
simple principle of economic engagement, going past all of the 
government noise and saying: What if we allowed infrastructure to be 
able to work together? What if we allowed tourism to be able to happen? 
What if we allowed businesses to work with other businesses in other 
nations that used to be hostile? How can we engage in such a way that 
would help?
  The four of us in the Abraham Accords Caucus brought to the floor 
today a resolution to recognize this 2-year anniversary. It sat before 
all 100 Senators, and I don't know a single Senator who is opposed to 
that because we all want to see peace in the Middle East. We all want 
to see that kind of progress, and we all want to see this increase.
  So, to our State Department, keep the work going. Keep the 
conversation going. To nations around the world that used to be hostile 
to Israel and the region, why don't we set down the past and prepare 
our families for the future?
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.

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