The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has warned Israel that annexing the occupied West Bank would breach a “red line” and damage the spirit of the Abraham Accords, as they established normal relations between the two countries. A high-ranking Emirati official, Lana Nusseibeh, stated that such a move would kill the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry supported the UAE’s position.
The Israeli government has not commented on the matter yet, but the remarks by Nusseibeh followed far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s proposal for annexing around four-fifths of the West Bank. Israel has constructed approximately 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Palestinians claim for their future state, alongside 3.3 million Palestinians. These settlements are considered illegal under international law.
The 2020 Abraham Accords, facilitated by the US, allowed the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. The UAE agreed to sign these accords on the condition that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government halt its plans to annex parts of the West Bank. Although Netanyahu stated he would “suspend” these plans at that time, they remained “on the table.”
The UAE is among the 147 UN member states that already recognize the State of Palestine. Nusseibeh, the UAE’s foreign ministry’s assistant minister for political affairs, emphasized that annexation of the West Bank would violate the UAE’s red line, undermining the vision and spirit of the Accords and contradicting the international consensus of two states peacefully coexisting.
Smotrich, an ultranationalist and settler with control over the West Bank’s planning, presented a map demonstrating the defense ministry’s ambitions to apply Israeli sovereignty to 82% of the West Bank. The remaining 18% would be isolated enclaves around six Palestinian cities – Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, and Hebron. The Palestinian Authority claims that Smotrich’s plan endangers hopes for a Palestinian state.
Various international human rights groups have concluded that Israel operates an apartheid system in the West Bank, a charge rejected by the Israeli government. Last month, there were international protests following the approval of Smotrich’s major settlement project plan, which would sever the West Bank from East Jerusalem. In 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian Territory as unlawful and called for Israel to end its presence swiftly. Netanyahu dismissed the ICJ’s advisory opinion as a “decision of lies.”
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2rgjk87y2o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
