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UAE envoy Lana Nusseibeh made a direct appeal to Israelis in an interview with *The Times of Israel*, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers weigh a controversial response to Western countries’ recognition of the State of Palestine
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – A senior UAE official warned Israel on Tuesday that annexing the Judea-Samaria would cross a “red line” that would “end the idea of “”regional integration.” The warning came two days before a key meeting between Netanyahu and ministers to discuss the possibility of moving forward with the controversial measure.
“Annexation would be a red line for my government, meaning there would be no lasting peace.
It would end the idea of “”regional integration and would be the end of the two-state solution,” said Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s special envoy, in an interview with *The Times of Israel* at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abu Dhabi.
The warning is surprising and comes on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, an initiative led by the UAE, which was the first Arab country in over 25 years to normalize relations with Israel.
Since then, UAE officials have stated that this decision is virtually irreversible, making Nusseibeh’s warning even more striking, demonstrating the country’s opposition to the idea of “”Israel annexing the Judea-Samaria.
The UAE’s message was carefully crafted and expressed publicly for the first time since the Abraham Accords.
It comes as Netanyahu prepares to discuss annexation with a small group of ministers on Thursday, in response to plans by countries including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Belgium to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month, according to an Israeli official.
Nusseibeh spoke directly to the Israeli public, as did the UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef Otaiba, in 2020, when he published an article in an Israeli newspaper warning about annexation.
At the time, he wrote: “Israeli leaders have spoken enthusiastically about normalizing relations with the UAE and other Arab countries.
But annexation plans and talk of normalization are a contradiction.”
That article was crucial to the Abraham Accords, with 80% of Israelis supporting a suspension of annexation in exchange for diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi, brokered by then-US President Donald Trump.
Netanyahu backed down from annexation, but the UAE only secured a US promise not to support annexation until the end of Trump’s term.
With Trump’s return to the presidency, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners are pushing to declare sovereignty over Judea-Samaria settlements, seizing what they see as a historic opportunity, as the new US administration appears indifferent or even supportive of the idea.
On Wednesday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proposed annexing 82% of the Judea-Samaria and urged Netanyahu to adopt the proposal.
Nusseibeh also sent an indirect message to the Trump administration, with which the UAE has built close ties.
“We trust that President Trump will not allow the legacy of the Abraham Accords to be tarnished, threatened, or derailed by extremists and radicals,” said Nusseibeh, who is an assistant to the UAE foreign minister and a former ambassador to the UN, and is an influential diplomat with close ties to the royal family.
She emphasized that annexation would be tantamount to rejecting the Abraham Accords and argued that this choice should be presented directly to the Israeli people, as polls show that Netanyahu’s government enjoys minority support.
While warning about what Israel would lose from annexation, Nusseibeh also highlighted what the country could gain if it abandoned the plan.
She indicated that Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, are still open to normalizing relations with Israel, as long as annexation is ruled out and Israel accepts a credible and irreversible path toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
“In all Arab capitals, the idea of “”regional integration is still possible, but annexation to satisfy radical elements in Israel would take that off the table,” she stated.
Nusseibeh said the UAE did not reach this conclusion lightly.
She noted that, following the Hamas attacks on October 7, the UAE immediately condemned terrorism, acknowledged Israel’s security concerns, and coordinated the delivery of more humanitarian aid to Gaza than any other country.
Over the past two years, the UAE has maintained that the Abraham Accords remain relevant and that extremists should not define the region’s future.
However, with Israel taking steps to consolidate its presence in the Judea-Samaria and Gaza, Nusseibeh warned that “we are approaching a point of no return” and that now is the time to engage with the Israelis before regional ties are “irreparably damaged.”
She assured that, despite everything, there is an “outstretched hand” from the region to Israel, but annexation “would withdraw that hand.”
Published in 09/03/2025 12h40
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption.
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