The municipal government in the Israeli seaside city of Tel Aviv is illuminated in the colours of the United Arab Emirates nationwide flag on August 13, 2020.
Jack Guez | AFP | Getty Images
The United Arab Emirates’ peace handle Israel is a “win-win solution” that eliminates the “looming threat” of addition in the West Bank, according to the Gulf nation’s minister of state for foreign affairs.
“We were in Arab League meetings … and the whole idea was, what do we do to stop this annexation? Somehow, annexation seemed as a looming threat that will undermine any prospects of a two-state solution,” Anwar Gargash informed CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Thursday.
His remarks were made quickly after U.S. President Donald Trump revealed the other day that both nations consented to stabilize relations, making the UAE the very first Persian Gulf state and the 3rd Arab country to have open diplomatic ties with Israel.
It’s a great day for Israel and for the UAE, they both get something out of this that they quite desire.
Thomas Warrick
Atlantic Council
“The UAE was quite active diplomatically and we took an unprecedented step of our ambassador … saying basically that annexation will just wreck the whole prospect of negotiations and peace, and will affect Israel’s prospects of establishing relations with the Arab world,” Gargash stated.
“I can’t really pinpoint a certain moment, but the idea developed that why don’t we actually create a win-win solution,” he included.
Thomas Warrick, non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, concurred with the belief.
“It’s a good day for Israel and for the UAE, they both get something out of this that they very much want,” he stated. “The UAE shows its value as a strategic partner to both U.S. political parties. Israel gets out of their being stuck over the settlements issue … This gives them a valuable prize, normalization of relations with the UAE.”
Gargash explained the offer as a method of “defusing a real threat” to a two-state service and “hopefully” enabling settlements to reboot, however not a “roadmap for peace” in between Israel and Palestine.
“This is really up to the Palestinians, up to the Israelis, up to other traditional brokers such as the Americans,” he stated.
Criticism of the contract
A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stated the management “rejects and denounces” the treaty, while Turkey launched a declaration that stated history “will not forget and never forgive this hypocritical behavior of the UAE,” according to a Reuters report.
Iran, a typical foe of Israel and the UAE, likewise condemned the offer. State news company IRNA reported that the nation’s foreign ministry on Friday called the choice as a “strategic act of idiocy” and stated it was a “dangerous” relocation.
Ahead of that declaration, Gargash stated he would not be shocked by declarations from Iran, considered that the Islamic Republic still does decline Israel as a state.
“The Arabs, I think have gone beyond that, the Palestinians have gone beyond that,” he stated. “The Iranian position on this issue is static.”
He included that there will never ever be a “perfect moment” for the UAE to stabilize relations with Israel. “If we really wait for that perfect moment, it really is a call for … standing still and letting developments sort of bypass you, and unfortunately, this has been the case with the Palestinian issue historically.”
Asked if the contract would keep in the occasion of a Biden presidency in the U.S., Gargash stated this “strategic change” will not be reversed.
“It will not be reversed for Israel, it will not be reversed for the UAE, and it will not be reversed for the United States. I think that come what may, I think all political systems will deal with this as a positive development.”
— CNBC’s Natasha Turak and Tucker Higgins added to this report.
