Male-dominated corporation, posing as a nation, cements ties with Israel; Israel gives up annexing West Bank...for now

I admit I did not find it very noteworthy that Israel cemented its already significant ties to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week. The only noteworthy aspect is the UAE, in moving from its informal relationship with Israel to a formal one, convinced Israeli leaders to not immediately annex the West Bank--something the Trump administration was enabling Israel to do.

For me, the UAE has long been a He-Man-Woman-Hater's-Corporation posing as a nation, where nearly 90% of people living there are non-citizens, and a small cadre of superrich people control that non-citizen population to an extent long dreamed of by modern US business executives. It is what the right-wing, corporate funded Heritage Foundation believes is "freedom," I suppose. 

But, first, let's talk about how women fare in the UAE. As with Saudi Arabia, the UAE is a horrorshow for any modern woman. Let's let Amnesty International summarize what I mean:

...(W)omen continued to face discrimination in law and in practice. For example, the Personal Status Law of 2005 states that “a husband’s rights over his wife” include the wife’s “courteous obedience to him” (Article 56), and places conditions on a married woman’s right to work or leave the house (Article 72). Under Article 356 of the Penal Code, “debasement of honour with consent” is punishable by one year or more in prison. On the basis of this law, a Swedish-run hospital in Ajman Emirate was forced to report pregnant, unmarried women to the police. In some cases these referrals have led to prosecution and deportation. The government failed to adequately protect women from sexual and domestic violence. Under Article 53 of the Penal Code, “a husband’s discipline of his wife” is “considered an exercise of rights”, language that can be read as official sanction of spousal abuse.

And here is Amnesty International summarizing workers' plight in the UAE:

Migrant workers remained tied to employers under the kafala (sponsorship) system, making them vulnerable to labour abuses and exploitation. In a positive development, the authorities removed the job title criteria for sponsorship, allowing more residents to sponsor family members to live in the UAE.

The UAE maintained its no-minimum wage policy. This had a particularly negative impact on migrant workers, who comprised more than 90% of the country’s workforce. Unlike UAE nationals, migrant workers did not receive government allowances for housing, subsidized health care or other services and were therefore dependent on their wages in order to access essential services. Migrants’ wages were typically low relative to the cost of living in the UAE, posing a risk to their right to just and favourable conditions of work, and their right to an adequate standard of living.

Late or non-payment of wages was common, leaving hundreds of low-paid migrant workers stranded in poor living conditions. Mercury MENA, an engineering company, failed to pay many of its workers for more than two years. The workers’ situation remained unresolved at the end of 2019.

Reports continued of migrant workers being fined for overstaying their visas and other immigration violations. Because migrants were unable to pay such fines, which were often too high for them to afford, many were held indefinitely in detention.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is also unimpressed with the UAE's record concerning workers:

Foreign nationals account for more than 88.5 percent of the UAE’s population, according to 2011 government statistics. Many low-paid migrant workers remain acutely vulnerable to forced labor, despite some reforms.

The kafala (visa-sponsorship) system continues to tie migrant workers to their employers. Those who leave their employers can face punishment for “absconding,” including fines, prison, and deportation.

The UAE’s labor law excludes domestic workers, who face a range of abuses, from unpaid wages, confinement to the house, workdays up to 21 hours with no breaks, to physical or sexual assault by employers, from its protections. Domestic workers face legal and practical obstacles to redress.

The UAE has made some reforms to increase domestic worker protection. In September 2017, the president signed a bill on domestic workers that guarantees domestic workers labor rights for the first time including a weekly rest day, 30 days of paid annual leave, sick leave, and 12 hours of rest a day. In some cases, the law allows for inspections of recruitment agency offices, workplaces, and residences, and sets out penalties for violations.

But the 2017 law does not prohibit employers from charging reimbursement for recruitment expenses and requires that workers who terminate employment without a breach of contract compensate their employers with one month’s salary and pay for their own tickets home. In June, while authorities set out new fixed recruitment fees that included some packages of fixed salaries for domestic workers, these salaries discriminate by nationality.

Until last year, the UAE had been a leading monetary supporter of Saudi Arabia's near-genocidal war against Yemen, as we also know the US and Israel continue to be. 

So, count me as nonplussed by this still-to-be-formalized agreement. The only thing this deal did was give the Israelis a fig leaf to cover its recognition that annexing the West Bank at this time was not a good diplomatic move, and that Trump and his heir-in-law Jared Kushner probably realized was not a good election year move, either.