It Is Neither Decades of Occupation, Years of Blockade, Nor Days of Bombing. It Is Just “Shalom”!

By Al-Ahed

The United Arab Emirates’ [UAE] Ambassador to the United States Yousef al-Otaiba hailed his country’s new agreement with the ‘Israeli’ entity occupying the land of Palestine and killing its people, and celebrated it with an opinion piece he wrote for Yedioth Ahronoth, with the title: “Shalom, salaam and welcome”!

Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to all the suffering the Palestinians have been passing through ever since this intruder regime came to settle in their lands, the Emirati ambassador sent his greetings to the audience.

As if the 13-year old Gaza blockade, which turned the strip almost inhabitable, and is if the most recent ongoing three-week long bombing of the same place are not enough for a human being to witness the daily ‘Israeli’ crimes against the indigenous people. Al-Otaiba boldly claimed that such deal “will help move the region beyond a troubled legacy of hostility and strife to a more hopeful destiny of ‘peace’ and prosperity.”

Unashamed, al-Otaiba viewed the normalization as a gate to a better future across the Middle East, claiming “it includes growth and innovation, better opportunities for the young and a breakdown of long-held prejudices.”

In his 900-word article, he announced that his country “of course looks forward to welcoming ‘Israelis’ to visit and worship at the soon to be built Abrahamic Center in Abu Dhabi, a multi-faith complex that will include a co-located mosque, church and synagogue.”

However, the ‘tenderhearted’ but unfortunately ill minded representative of his country alleged that “the UAE will remain an ardent and consistent supporter of the Palestinian people – for their dignity, their rights and their own sovereign state. They must share in the benefits of normalization.”

Let’s accept that he is kind enough to take care of the landowners. How shall his country claim this? How could it be possible to share two enemies and consider them, both, at the same time, its friends?

This is not the first time the Emirates’ diplomat generously pens to the ‘Israeli’ newspaper. His first opinion piece for Yedioth Ahronoth was published in June, entitled: “Annexation will be a serious setback for better relations with the Arab world.”

Back then, al-Otaiba claimed that “a unilateral and illegal seizure of Palestinian land defies the international consensus on the Palestinian right to self-determination, will ignite violence and send shock waves around the region.”

He stressed also that for years, the UAE has been an unfailing supporter of Middle East ‘peace’.