UAE warns Israel

The United Arab Emirates will consider Israel’s new plan to annex the West Bank as a ‘red line’. The country warned Tel Aviv on Wednesday (September 3). The British media outlet BBC confirmed this information in a report on Thursday. A senior Emirati official, Lana Nusseibeh, said that such a move would be considered a death knell for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the two-state solution. She made the comments after far-right leader and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proposed the annexation of about four-fifths of the West Bank. On the other hand, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry said that Abu Dhabi considers Israel’s annexation of the West Bank to be an affront to the Abraham Accords. It was also claimed that it saw the agreement as a way to support the Palestinian people from the beginning. However, the Israeli government has not commented on the matter. In 2020, the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country in 26 years to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords. Bahrain and Morocco soon followed suit. Abu Dhabi has since deepened trade, defense, and tourism ties with Israel. Now Israel and the United States are seeking to advance the agreement with other Arab countries, particularly Saudi Arabia.