UAE Secured ‘No Guarantees’ on Halt of West Bank Annexation From ‘Israel’

By Staff, Agencies

The UAE has no firm guarantees that ‘Israel’ will not annex occupied Palestinian territory in the future, Emirati ministers said.

This is despite normalizing relations with the Zionist entity in a deal which “suspends” plans to declare sovereignty over land such as the occupied West Bank.

“Nothing is written in stone” should ‘Israel’ renege on its promises, and there are no “conditions attached” to the surprise agreement first announced by US President Donald Trump on Thursday night, the UAE’s assistant minister for foreign affairs, culture and public diplomacy, Omar Ghobash, told The Independent. Instead, he said there were understandings.

While Anwar Gargash, UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, called the agreement a “win-win” for the region, Ghobash said: “We don’t have any guarantees as such.”

Late on Thursday Trump announced the surprise US-brokered deal which saw the UAE become the first gulf country to recognize and build diplomatic ties with the Zionist entity. It is only the third Arab country to do so, joining Egypt and Jordan.

A joint statement from the US, the UAE and ‘Israel’ claimed that ‘Israel’ would “suspend” its plans to imminently annex swathes of occupied Palestinian territory in a move declared illegal under international law.

The announcement also confirmed delegations will meet in the coming weeks to sign deals on direct flights, security, telecommunications, energy, tourism and healthcare.