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The UAE did not, however, specify its possible impact on the landmark Abraham Accords signed between the two countries in 2020 under US President Donald Trump
Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a map of an area near the settlement of Maale Adumim, a land corridor known as E1, outside Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank. (Image: Menahem Kahana/AFP)
The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday warned Israel that any move to annex the occupied West Bank will be a “red line”. It did not, however, specify its possible impact on a landmark normalisation accord between the two countries.
The warning came as Israel pressed ahead with the initial stages of its latest major offensive in famine-stricken Gaza City. Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 31 people, as per hospital authorities.
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A senior Emirati diplomat, Anwar Gargash, wrote on the social platform X that “annexation is a red line” and linked this to a report in the Times of Israel.
This report quoted another Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh as saying annexation would “severely undermine the vision and spirit of (Abraham) Accords, end the pursuit of regional integration and would alter the widely shared consensus on what the trajectory of this conflict should be – two states living side by side in peace, prosperity and security”.
The two diplomats did not specifically say Abu Dhabi would withdraw from the agreement, and the Emirati foreign ministry did not respond to questions seeking clarification.
“From the very beginning, we viewed the Accords as a way to enable our continued support for the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspiration for an independent state,” Nusseibeh told AFP. “The proposals to annex parts of the West Bank, reportedly under discussion in the Israeli government, is part of an effort that would, in the words of an Israeli minister, ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’.”
Nusseibeh added: “We call on the Israeli government to suspend these plans. Extremists, of any kind, cannot be allowed to dictate the region’s trajectory.”
WHAT ARE THE 2020 ABRAHAM ACCORDS?
The UAE was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords brokered by US President Donald Trump, in which it and three other Arab countries forged ties with Israel. Trump has said he hopes to expand the accords in his second term, potentially to include regional power Saudi Arabia.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state.
Israel’s current government is staunchly opposed to Palestinian statehood and supports eventual annexation of much of the West Bank, which the Palestinians and much of the international community says will prevent a two-state solution widely seen as the only way to resolve the decades-old conflict. In fact, Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
WHAT HAS ISRAEL SAID?
Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday called for annexation of swathes of the West Bank, after Belgium became the latest country to announce it will recognise Palestine as a state.
Smotrich has said Israel intends to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” and annexing large parts of the West Bank would “take the idea of dividing our tiny land and establishing a terrorist state at its centre off the agenda once and for all”.
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The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
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