United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash warned on Monday that any unilateral move by Israel to annex parts of the occupied West Bank would be a serious setback for the Middle East peace process.
“Continued Israeli talk of annexing Palestinian lands must stop,” he said in a Twitter post.
“Any unilateral Israeli move will be a serious setback for the peace process, undermine Palestinian self-determination & constitute a rejection of the international & Arab consensus towards stability & peace.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said cabinet discussions would begin on July 1 on his plan to extend Israeli sovereignty to territory Palestinians want for their own state.
His pledge is in line with a peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump in January for creating a Palestinian state but demilitarized and with borders drawn to meet Israeli security needs, while granting US recognition of Israeli settlements on occupied West Bank land.
The Palestinians have vehemently rejected the plan, which diverges from previous US policy and a 2002 Arab League-endorsed initiative that offered Israel normal relations in return for an independent Palestinian state and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
