David Makovsky, of the US-based Washington Institute of Near East Policy, took to Twitter to explain the significance of Gargash's statement."This comes from a leading Emirati official – Minister of State – who has been very supportive of close ties between Gulf states and Israel," wrote Makovsky, who is an author on the Middle East peace process and former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post.Gargash spoke as the Palestinian Authority and Jordan are in the midst of an intense campaign to urge the international community to find a way to halt such action.At the heart of one of the Israeli arguments that such a measure should move forward is the belief that the Jewish state can both annex and pursue relations with its Arab neighbors. This includes not only Jordan and Egypt, with whom it has peace deals, but also moderate countries such as the UAE, with whom it hopes to one day have normalized and formal diplomatic ties.Moderate Arab countries have said that they would only recognize diplomatic ties with Israel once a peace deal has been achieved with the Palestinians for a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines.The Arab League has twice endorsed the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which would offer Israel such ties with the Arab world in exchange for a negotiated two-state solution based on those lines.US President Donald Trump hopes to replace the idea of a two-state state solution on the pre-1967 lines with his own version of a peace deal that does not recognize that boundary and offers the Palestinians a demilitarized state on 70% of the West Bank territory.On Monday, Gargash clarified that even talk of such annexation was harmful.Immediately upon the formation of his government last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset that he would annex the West Bank settlements and promised the government he would bring it to them as a vote as soon as possible.Continued Israeli talk of annexing Palestinian lands must stop. 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.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) June 1, 2020
UAE's Gargash: With annexation talk, Israel rejects peace with Arab world
“Any unilateral Israeli move will be a serious setback for the peace process, undermine Palestinian self determination [and] constitute a rejection of the international [and] Arab consensus."
