By Samia Nakhoul
ABU DHABI (Reuters) -The UAE is pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace proposal at their meeting later on Monday and to abandon any plan to annex the West Bank, a delegate with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The United Arab Emirates, the most prominent Arab country to normalise ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords, warned Netanyahu that annexation would shut the door to further Israeli normalisation with leading Arab and Muslim nations, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, the delegate added.
The Israeli leader faces pressure to annex the West Bank from far-right politicians who want to extend sovereignty over the area and snuff out hopes for a Palestinian state.
A senior Israeli official has said that Netanyahu will give Israel’s response to Trump’s Gaza peace proposal when he meets the U.S. leader at the White House on Monday.
UAE URGES ISRAEL TO ENGAGE SERIOUSLY WITH TRUMP PLAN
The UAE position on Trump’s Gaza peace plan was communicated to Netanyahu by its Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in a meeting with the Israeli leader on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Friday, the delegate said.
The contents of Sheikh Abdullah’s remarks to Netanyahu at the meeting have not been previously reported.
In Jerusalem, there was no immediate response from Netanyahu’s office to a request for comment.
Sheikh Abdullah, whose country wields diplomatic sway across the Middle East due to its wealth, strategic location and assertive foreign policy, said the UAE backs the U.S. plan, describing it as offering significant benefits to all parties.
He called on Netanyahu to engage seriously with the Trump administration to move the plan forward to implementation, the delegate said.
Trump met several Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week to promote his 21-point framework to end the nearly two-year-old Israel-Hamas war and win freedom for hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group.
On Sunday, Trump told Reuters he hoped that at the Monday meeting he would get Netanyahu’s agreement on the framework. The White House said on Monday that Israel and Hamas are “very close” to agreeing a framework deal to end the Gara war.
Abdulaziz al-Sager, Chairman of Saudi-based Gulf Research Center think tank, said Saudi Arabia welcomed two key commitments he said Trump had made: No forced deportation from Gaza and No annexation of the West Bank.
ARAB STATES PERSUADE TRUMP THAT ANNEXATION UNTENABLE
He said the kingdom’s message to Trump has been consistent and unequivocal: Saudi Arabia will not normalise relations with Israel or join the Abraham Accords without a firm commitment to a two-state solution, including a viable Palestinian state.
According to the Arab delegate, Arab and Muslim states successfully persuaded Trump himself at their meeting that annexation was untenable — prompting the U.S. president to publicly disavow the idea. The message to Netanyahu was blunt: if Israel wants the benefits of being a “normal country” with regional ties, it must not sabotage them, the delegate said.
According to three regional sources, the 21-point Trump framework marks a shift in Washington’s approach to Gaza. It not only encourages Palestinians to remain in the Strip but also, the three sources said, it lays out a conditional pathway toward Palestinian statehood — an idea the Trump administration had previously avoided.
The reported shift stands in contrast to Trump’s earlier proposal to relocate Gaza’s entire population, a suggestion that provoked widespread international condemnation.
In Washington, there was no immediate response from the White House and the State Department to a request for comment on the reported content of the peace framework.
The three sources said the plan tries to balance Palestinian aspirations with Israel’s security demands, including Hamas’s disarmament and Gaza’s demilitarization — conditions likely to face resistance from Hamas and Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which has long opposed Palestinian statehood.
It envisions a reformed Palestinian Authority eventually governing a redeveloped Gaza, and outlines the formation of a transitional Palestinian technocratic government.
A temporary stabilization force would train a new Palestinian police force, and Israel would gradually withdraw from occupied areas, the three sources said. A U.S.-led international body would oversee redevelopment, they said.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to medical authorities in the territory. Most homes have been damaged or destroyed and the 2.3 million residents are living in a severe humanitarian crisis.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli territory in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and capturing 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Forty-eight hostages are still in Gaza, 20 of whom Netanyahu says are still alive.
(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul, Editing by William Maclean)
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