The United Arab Emirates is optimistic about the prospects for the Middle East peace process under the new US administration and lauds Palestine for its willingness to engage in the process, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Thursday
GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2020) The United Arab Emirates is optimistic about the prospects for the Middle East peace process under the new US administration and lauds Palestine for its willingness to engage in the process, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump, whose administration brokered UAE-Israel reconciliation and proposed a peace plan for the Middle East conflict, could be replaced by Joe Biden in January if the former's court appeals against alleged election fraud are unsuccessful.�
"The Trump administration had an essential role in bringing the Abraham Accords, but president-elect Biden was very quick in his support of them. So today, we do not have a Trump policy or Biden policy, we have an American policy, and I think this is going to help [the peace process] a lot," Gargash said at the MED 2020 virtual conference when asked about the prospects for the peace process under the new US administration.
The UAE senior official then praised the Palestinians for their decision to look at the peace agreement rationally.
"I am not saying that the Palestinians have an easy task ahead, but I think with this sort of strategic opening we have a new way of thinking, because clearly by running out in circles and not talking we could not arrive at something that is doable. I think we have an opportunity now," Gargash noted.
The minister of state added that the normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel had created a new reality on the ground.
"The Biden administration will most probably return to previous American positions. ... But the Palestinians have signaled that they are willing to engage, and I think we need to encourage them to do that and we need to work with them to do that," Gargash said.
On September 15, the UAE and Israel signed the US-brokered peace agreement, which envisaged establishing diplomatic ties and full normalization of relations between the countries, which had been earlier marred by the Arab-Israeli confrontation triggered by the Palestine issue.
According to the Abraham Accords Declaration signed by the US, UAE and Israel on August 13, the signatory parties recognized the importance of peace in the Middle East, based on mutual understanding, and encouraged the promotion of interfaith dialogue among Christians, Muslims and Jews.
