Misguided provocation: Emirates warn Israel against annexation

The United Arab Emirates warned on Friday in an unprecedented media campaign in Israel, an annexation in the West Bank. This would upset the "definitely and immediately all Israeli aspirations for improved security, economic and cultural relations with the Arab world and the UAE," wrote the Emirati Ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, in an Opinion piece in the Israeli newspaper "Jedioth Ahronoth".

Jochen Stahnke

Political correspondent for Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan, with headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Otaiba wrote, in the past few years, Israel and the Gulf States are brought close to each other; both sides have no diplomatic relations. The approach is now in danger. "Normalization is not annexation. Instead, annexation is a misguided provocation of a new magnitude,“ wrote the Ambassador, had been at the end of January at the launch of the middle East plan in the White house. This gesture has given the Emirates seems to be no further influence on the design of the Plan, which is why you have now chosen the direct way to the Public.

support for the Arab peace initiative

In his contribution, the difference Otaiba with respect to the proportions of a annexation, but opposed any such step. "The entire time we were enthusiastic supporters of the Palestinian people and ongoing supporter of the Arab peace initiative," it said further. This at the instigation of Saudi Arabia concluded an Initiative offered to Israel in 2002, the full Arab recognition in exchange for a Palestinian state in the territories occupied since 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

a "Palestinian state," wrote Otaiba, however, which implies an acceptance of the existing occupation situation, if Israel annexed. In the Abu Dhabi newspaper "The National" compared Otaiba his Hebrew article with the travel of Egyptian President Anwar al Sadat to Jerusalem in 1977.