A senior United Arab Emirates official tweeted on Monday that Israel should not move to annex parts of West Bank since it would damage the future peace process.
“Continued Israeli talk of annexing Palestinian lands must stop. Any unilateral Israeli move will be a serious setback for the peace process, undermine Palestinian self determination & constitute a rejection of the international & Arab consensus towards stability & peace,” tweeted Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash.
Continued Israeli talk of annexing Palestinian lands must stop. Any unilateral Israeli move will be a serious setback for the peace process, undermine Palestinian self determination & constitute a rejection of the international & Arab consensus towards stability & peace.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) June 1, 2020
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he plans to begin the process of applying sovereignty in Judea and Samaria on July 1. And to date, Palestinian leadership has declined to even discuss the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan.
Despite public rhetoric by Gulf states against Israel’s planned move, the nations are working closely with the United States and have had growing contacts with Israel as well—in large part because of common concern about Iran’s nuclear program and aggressive behavior.
In a sign of the warming relations between Israel and the Gulf states, for the first time ever, Israel’s national cycling team competed in the 2020 UAE Tour earlier this year.
The race in the UAE—the only one that takes place in the region as part of the World Tour—is the Middle East’s largest professional cycling event. The “Israel Start-Up Nation” cycling team is one of 19 professional teams that competed this year.