UAE conditions financing Gaza reconstruction on road map to two-states
The United Arab Emirates ambassador to the UN says the plan needs to be 'serious before we talk about the next day' and rebuilding the Gaza Strip
Envisioning the day-after the war in Gaza has been on the mind of regional and international leaders, among them are the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that normalized relations with Israel in 2020 and have financed projects in the area before, but this time there are conditions.
“The message is going to be very clear: We need to see a viable two-state solution plan, a road map that is serious before we talk about the next day and rebuilding the infrastructure of Gaza,” UAE ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, told The Wall Street Journal.
“The road map is: the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority and a grouping of countries that have leverage on the both of them sitting around the table and saying, ‘That’s the endgame we’re going to work to. The work starts here. This is the timeline, and it starts now,’” Nusseibeh explained.
According to the UAE ambassador, the grouping would include bordering countries Egypt and Jordan, which both have peace deals with Israel, as well as other Arab states that have relations with the Jewish state. The group would also involve European countries, a few Muslim-majority nations from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the United States.
The two-month-old war in Gaza has been “a turning point moment” for the UAE, according to its UN ambassador with Palestinian heritage. Nusseibeh concluded that without such a road map to a two-state solution, “we’re not going to be as fully invested in the rebuild, and with Israel it will also have an effect. That’s not the trajectory we signed the Abraham Accords on.”
Since the war erupted, after the terrorist organization Hamas led a planned massacre in southern Israel on October 7, the UAE has been sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, including basic food items and shelter materials. The Gulf state also evacuated Palestinian children for medical treatment and opened a 150-bed field hospital inside the embattled enclave.