Israel’s annexation of any part of the occupied West Bank would be a “red line” that would “end the pursuit of regional integration,” warned the United Arab Emirates, the main signatory of the landmark agreement that saw Israel normalize relations with three Arab nations.
“Annexation in the West Bank would constitute a red line for the UAE,” Lana Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister for Political Affairs at the UAE’s foreign ministry, said in a statement. “It would severely undermine the vision and spirit of (the 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.”
In 2020, the UAE became the first Arab country in 26 years to normalize relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords, with Bahrain and Morocco following soon after. Abu Dhabi has since deepened trade, defense and tourism ties with Israel and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it a priority to expand the pact to other Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia.
While the UAE has previously criticized Israel over its conduct in the Gaza war and the West Bank, its latest warning – delivered just ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords – marks the strongest rebuke yet from Abu Dhabi. It also raises fresh doubts about the durability of the normalization agreement, one of US President Donald Trump’s signature foreign policy achievements during his first term.
The UAE has maintained relations with Israel over the course of the Gaza war and used those ties to coordinate air drops of aid into the war-ravaged territory, seeing the pact as beneficial to Palestinians too.
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