UAE says Israeli annexation of West Bank ‘red line’ for Abu Dhabi
The UAE’s warning is its strongest criticism of Israel since the start of the Gaza war, and raises concerns about the Abraham Accords
The United Arab Emirates warned Israel on Wednesday that annexation in the occupied West Bank would constitute a “red line” for Abu Dhabi that would severely undermine the spirit of the Abraham Accords that normalised UAE-Israeli relations.
The comments by the UAE, the most prominent of the three Arab states that signed the accords with Israel when US President Donald Trump was first in office, amounted to Abu Dhabi’s strongest criticism of Israel since the Gaza war erupted in 2023, when Hamas launched its cross-border raid from the enclave.
Trump has been seeking to expand the accords, but efforts so far to draw in others, including Saudi Arabia, have hit the buffers amid growing international criticism in the Arab world, Europe and beyond of the way Israel has conducted the war.
In August, Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that work would start on a long-delayed settlement that would divide the West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, a move his office said would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank, as well as allies and campaign groups condemned the project, calling it illegal and saying the fragmentation of territory would rip up any peace plans for the region. Smotrich has also called for annexing the West Bank.