How the UAE went from boycotting Israel to investing billions in its economy

Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. The agreement would lift trade between the two nations to more than $10 billion within five years, from what Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics says was about $1.2 billion last year. Mogielnicki, however, says that Israel is a controversial player in the region, so trade with the UAE would give it a foot in the door to an untapped regional market but not “a VIP pass.” Business between Israeli firms and state and private firms in the Gulf already exists, says Karen Young, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute. Trade with the UAE may not spell the end of the Arab boycott of Israel, says Barak, but make it “irrelevant from a business perspective.” The digest Turkey says Saudi Crown Prince to visit Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Ankara and Riyadh were in agreement for a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Turkey, but no date had been set yet. Mohammed Alnaas, 31, late last month became the first Libyan and youngest author to win the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his debut novel “Bread on Uncle Milad’s Table”.