Watan-It seems that Abu Dhabi has become conducive to holding unofficial meetings between Arab officials and Israeli occupation leaders, at a time when the isolation of the occupation is increasing in the region and the world due to its brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, the meeting between Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat and Saudi Minister of Economy Majid Al-Qasabi on the sidelines of a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Abu Dhabi sparked widespread controversy and prompted Saudi Arabia to issue an official statement justifying it.
The meeting between Al-Qasabi and Nir Barkat in the Emirates sparked a wave of anger
The ministers appeared in a video shaking hands and exchanging business cards, while Saudi Arabia later denied the occurrence of the meeting, stating that they greeted each other without the Israeli economy minister introducing himself.
In this context, a report titled “Does Abu Dhabi facilitate meetings between Israelis and Arab officials?” stated that the presence of meetings between Israeli occupation leaders and Arab officials entails an angry popular reaction, so they are keen to avoid any public meeting with occupation officials.
لقاء وزير التجارة ماجد عبدالله القصبي بوزير الاقتصاد الإسرائيلي في مثل هذه الظروف وصمة عار في تاريخه إلا أن يخرج ويقدم تبريراته لهذا الموقف المشين! pic.twitter.com/ODW2rcSSck
— نحو الحرية (@hureyaksa) February 27, 2024
However, it seems that the UAE provides the appropriate environment for these meetings, which Israelis usually leak to the media to confirm their claims that they are accepted in the region, according to the report.
It is worth noting that days before the Israeli aggression on Gaza, Abu Dhabi facilitated a meeting between Mauritanian security officials and Israeli officials.
Since the normalization with the occupation in 2020, the UAE has hosted backstage meetings between Arab businessmen and Israeli businessmen in trade and economic conferences and forums, and the occupation hopes that the UAE will become a center for normalizing their trade with the Arab world.
Despite the expectation by most researchers and observers that Israeli brutality in Palestine would end any hopes for normalization with the Arab world, the UAE government refused to end normalization with the occupation despite the passing months of genocide in the Gaza Strip, leading to the martyrdom of more than 30,000 civilians, mostly women and children.
Saudi Arabia still does not have an official relationship with the occupation despite ongoing American efforts to activate the normalization project between them.
The absence of a relationship with the occupation has increased Israel’s regional isolation amidst the current war, preventing the use of Abu Dhabi’s territories to support Israeli diplomacy in the Gulf.
📹شاهد| طعنة في ظهر المظلومين في #غزة…وزير التجارة السعودي يلتقي نظيره الصهيوني في #الامارات
شاهد كإثبات لكم بأن #السعودية و #الامارات مستعمرتان لليهود#صمتك_مشاركة_لإسرائيل_في_الإبادة #لستم_وحدكم #التطبيع_خيانة #ولعت #غزة_تنتصر #اليمن_قول_وفعل #Yemen #Palestine #غزة_لن_تجوع pic.twitter.com/npMpDXjJry
— نصرالله العيانيNsrallhYany (@NsrallhYany) February 27, 2024
However, the Emirati normalization in 2020 and Abu Dhabi’s insistence on it despite the current brutal aggression on Gaza has given the occupation opportunities to support its malicious goals through Arab territories, leading activists to attack UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed and his policies, describing Abu Dhabi as a new “Israeli colony” in the Gulf.