Syria, Israel seek acceptance at UAE’s COP28 climate summit
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Both Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad have been invited to the UN COP28 climate summit to be held in Dubai, UAE, in November. Human rights groups accuse the three countries of ‘greenwashing’ their human rights violations.
Al-Assad was reportedly extended an invitation by the UAE government before the Arab League meeting in Jeddah on May 19, in which Damascus regained its seat at the regional organization after over a decade of suspension.
COP28 would be al-Assad’s first international summit appearance since the outbreak of the war in Syria. Human Rights Watch slammed the UAE government for helping Damascus burnish its image after 12 years of waging war against its own population.
Israel’s Prime Minister was formally invited on Monday. His visit to the UAE has been repeatedly pushed back. Israel and the UAE have normalized relations under US patronage since 2020. However, faced with anti-Palestinian violence and deliberate Israeli provocations, the UAE cancelled Netanyahu’s visit to Abu Dhabi.
Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog, travelled to the UAE twice, in December 2021 and January 2022. He has also been invited to the COP28 summit.
The international UN climate summit is held annually in order to lay out policies to halt the global rise in temperatures. The government in Abu Dhabi hopes that the 2023 summit will establish a “clear roadmap to accelerate progress through a pragmatic global energy transition and a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to inclusive climate action,” according to a press release.
The dangers of climate change are particularly acute for the UAE. A recent study found that 80 percent of its population would be exposed to extreme heat even if the world could keep to below a 1.5C rise in global temperatures – the current goal.
The UAE has been one of the first oil-rich Gulf states to diversify away from fossil fuels. However, it still tops global carbon emission charts. According to a 2022 European Union study, the UAE ranked seventh in the world in carbon emission per capita. Neighboring Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain rank second, third and fourth, respectively. Activists say Gulf countries, including the UAE, are not doing enough to combat climate change.
Israel and the UAE have also been accused of ‘greenwashing’ their substandard human rights records. “Such a narrative showcases Israel as ‘environmentally-friendly’, in order to normalize and deflect its climate apartheid and environmental destruction against the Palestinian people, their land and their natural resources,” Al-Haq, a human rights organization, wrote about Israel’s presence at COP27.
This year, countries attending the climate summit will be joined by Syria. The country has been hard-hit by the effects of climate change. Water levels and agricultural output have been impacted significantly. Moreover, after over a decade at war, its government has a lot to atone for.