The UAE warned that any West Bank annexation would be a “red line” and a “death knell” for a two-state solution, said Lana Nusseibeh, the foreign ministry’s assistant minister for political affairs. The Palestinian Authority (PA) welcomed Abu Dhabi’s stance. Israel has not commented.
Her remarks followed far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s presentation of a plan to annex about 82% of the West Bank, leaving enclaves around Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho and Hebron.
He said “the time has come” to end talk of partition and touted “maximum land with minimum Arabs.”
East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel in 1980, a move not widely recognized internationally.
Smotrich said Palestinians would continue managing their daily affairs through the PA for now, later via “regional civilian management alternatives.” The PA called the plan a “direct threat” to prospects for statehood.
Israel has built some 160 settlements housing about 700,000 Israelis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967, alongside an estimated 3.3 million Palestinians. The settlements are illegal under international law.
The 2020 U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords normalized ties between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. A key UAE condition was the suspension of earlier annexation plans; then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they were “on the table” but paused.
Ministers in his current pro-settler coalition have long advocated annexation and have weighed next steps after moves by the UK, France, Belgium, and others to recognize a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has called such recognition after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack “a reward for terrorism.” The UAE already recognizes the State of Palestine.
Recent settlement steps have drawn renewed criticism, including plans in the E1 area that would split the West Bank from East Jerusalem. In 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion deeming Israel’s continued presence in the occupied territory unlawful. Netanyahu called the ruling “a decision of lies.”
Yehuda Shaul of the Ofek Centre compared Smotrich’s map to a 20th-century regime in another continent, BBC reported. Several human rights groups describe Israeli rule in the West Bank as apartheid, a characterization Israel rejects.
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Source: BBC, Euronews, Associated Press