Israel’s annexation of West Bank parts won’t affect ties with UAE

ABU DHABI: One of the UAE's most senior diplomats has said that the Israeli annexation of huge parts of the West Bank would not affect relations between the countries, as anger mounts in the Arab world about the move, foreign media reported.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, told the American Jewish Committee on Tuesday that the UAE is looking for greater cooperation with Israel, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing international criticism for the plans.

"Can I have a political disagreement with Israel but at the same time try and bridge other areas of the relationship? I think I can. I think that is fundamentally where we are," Gargash told the pro-Israel panel, according to Emirati and Israeli media.

He called for "open lines of communications" between the UAE and Israel and said. Gargash said that although UAE was opposed to the planned annexation of the Palestinian territories in principle - a move that would effectively kill-off the two state solution - he ruled out any action against Israel.

"The UAE is clearly against any annexation as is being proposed by the current Israeli government. Having said that, that is the political domain," he said, according to Israeli media.

"Do I have to really look at all the other domains and make them almost static because of the political domain? We have tried that, as a group of Arab countries, over many years, and I don't think it has really led to what we want in terms of bringing stability to the region."

Gargash, one of the UAE's most important political figures, then pledged to strengthen ties even if Israel's annexation goes ahead. "I think we can come to a point where we come to a given Israeli government… and say, we disagree with you [on the annexation], we don't think it's a good idea, but at the same time there are areas - such a Covid, technology and other things - where we can actually work together," he said, according to an Israeli media outlet. The UAE does not officially recognise Israel, in-line with Arab League protocol, but in recent years has established strong ties with the county.