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Israel, UAE sign academic cooperation agreement
March 14, 2022
Many materials that were blocked to the Israeli research community will now be accessible, and vice versa
Israeli and Emirati institutions on Thursday signed the first agreement of its kind for academic cooperation, in another step towards strengthening ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Signed by Israel’s Younes and Suraya Nazarian Library of the University of Haifa and the UAE’s National Library and Archives, the partnership will focus on a range of cooperation:
- Exchange of researchers and experts
- Archival research
- Exchange of collections
- Access to library resources
- Joint events and conferences, according to The Jerusalem Post (The Post).
“We hope that the agreement will also lead to… cultural events around common areas of interests,” said Dr. Moran Zaga, head of the Middle East Department at the University of Haifa.
The agreement was signed by the University of Haifa’s president, Prof. Ron Rubin, and the director of the UAE’s National Library, Abdullah Majed El Ali.
According to The Post, many materials that were blocked to the Israeli research community will now be accessible, and vice versa.
The UAE voiced interest in Israel’s library materials, digitization processes, and innovative tools in the digital humanities field.
“We see the new connection as an opportunity to enrich collections and informational collaboration, which will serve the populations of researchers in both countries,” said Naomi Gardinger, director of the Emirati library.
The latest example of warm ties between Israel and the UAE comes two years after the countries normalized relations through the Abraham Accords.