UAE Urges Netanyahu To Accept Gaza Peace Proposal From Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu/PHOTO via Instagram @b.netanyahu

JAKARTA - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a Gaza peace proposal from President Donald Trump at Monday's meeting at the White House.

Netanyahu was also asked to cancel the West Bank annexation plan, a delegation familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, September 29.

The United Arab Emirates, the most prominent Arab country that normalizes relations with Israel under the Abrahamic Agreement, warned Netanyahu of annexation would close the door to Israel's further normalization with prominent Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, the delegation's sambubg.

Israeli leaders are facing pressure to annex the West Bank from far-right politicians who want to expand sovereignty over the region and quell hopes for the Palestinian state.

A senior Israeli official said Netanyahu would give Israel's response to the Gaza Trump peace proposal when he met the US leader at the White House.

The UAE's position regarding the Gaza Trump peace plan was communicated to Netanyahu by his Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, during a meeting with the Israeli leader on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday last week, the delegation said.

The content of Sheikh Abdullah's statement to Netanyahu at the meeting was never previously reported.

Sheikh Abdullah, whose country has diplomatic influence in the Middle East, said the UAE supports the US plan, and described it as a plan that offers significant benefits to all parties.

He urged Netanyahu to be seriously involved with the Trump administration to advance the plan to implement it, the delegation said.

Trump met with several Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week to promote his 21-point framework to end the Israel-Hamas war that has lasted nearly two years and won freedoms for the hostages who are still being held by the Palestinian militant group.

On Sunday, Trump told Reuters he hoped at Monday's meeting he would get Netanyahu's approval of the framework.

The White House said on Monday Israel and Hamas were "very close" to agreeing on a framework deal to end Gara's war.

Abdulaziz al-Sager, head of the Saudi-centric Gulf Research Center think tank, said Saudi Arabia welcomed the two main commitments Trump said had made: there was no forced deportation from Gaza and no West Bank annexation.