A grand economic vision to link India and Israel to Europe is crumbling, a casualty of the carnage in Gaza and shifting US priorities
The architects of the US-backed IMEC, envisaged as a bridge linking India to Europe via the Gulf and Israel, have found themselves mired in deepening discord.
Instead of capitalising on the corridor’s transformative economic potential, analysts say its stakeholders are increasingly at one another’s throats, jeopardising what was once hailed by Washington as a landmark in multilateral cooperation.
“Outside powers intervening in GCC affairs without its approval – whether Iran, Israel or anyone else – is anathema to the UAE,” said Monica Marks, a professor of Middle East politics at New York University in Abu Dhabi.
Israel, she said, had squandered a “warm peace” with the UAE – complete with Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) celebrations featuring keynote speeches from Emirati dignitaries in Dubai – transforming it instead into a “widening chasm” of antipathy.
