TEL AVIV, September 3. /TASS/. Israel's possible annexation of the West Bank, where the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is based, constitutes a red line for the UAE, a move that would rule out the idea of normalizing and developing Arab-Israeli relations, Lana Nusseibeh, assistant foreign minister for political affairs and special envoy of the UAE, told The Times of Israel in an interview.
"Annexation [of the West Bank] would be a red line for my government, and that means there can be no lasting peace. It would foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution," the diplomat pointed out.
She stressed that the UAE was one of the first Arab countries to sign agreements in 2020 to normalize relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords. Since then, Abu Dhabi has advocated further strengthening these achievements and deepening regional economic integration, including after the attacks by the radical Palestinian movement Hamas on peaceful Israelis on October 7, 2023, and the outbreak of hostilities in the Gaza Strip.
"When Hamas tried to derail the Abraham Accords vision of regional integration with the October 7 terror attacks, we were firm in our response. <...> Over the last two years… our view was that the vision of the Abraham Accords remains pertinent — that you can’t let extremists set the trajectory of the region," Nusseibeh noted.
At the same time, she blamed extremist circles in Israel for promoting the idea of annexing the West Bank, warning that such a step would end the integration process. "For every Arab capital you talk to, the idea of regional integration is still a possibility, but annexation to satisfy some of the radical extremist elements in Israel is going to take that off the table. <...> There is an outstretched hand, despite all of this misery, in the region to Israel. But, annexation would withdraw that hand," the diplomat stated.
Nusseibeh added that the UAE is relying on the United States to serve as a voice of reason and prevent Israel from making this move, thereby undermining the foundations of the Abraham Accords. "We trust that President [of the US Donald] Trump will not allow the Abraham Accords tenet of his legacy to be tarnished, threatened or derailed by extremists and radicals. <...> We believe that President Trump and his administration have many of the levers to lead the initiative for a wider integration of Israel into the region," the diplomat stressed.
Situation in the West Bank
On August 10, a PNA representative told the Al Araby Al Jadeed newspaper that the leadership was considering the possibility of transforming the Palestinian Authority into the State of Palestine and unilaterally proclaiming that at the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
In late July, the foreign ministers of 15 countries supported the idea of recognizing Palestine following a conference on the issue in New York. The initiative was joined by the foreign ministers of Australia, Andorra, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Canada, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, Finland, and France, who have already made the relevant decision.
On July 23, the Knesset — Israel's parliament — passed a declaration calling on the government to extend the country's sovereignty to the West Bank. Although the document is purely declarative, ten Arab and Islamic countries — including Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Nigeria, the UAE, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — condemned the move as a flagrant violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
In July, Reuters reported that Israel was considering annexing the West Bank in response to the actions of European countries.